Blink
by Shadows in the Light of Day
Summary: Eduard has always been ostracized from his tribe, considered cursed for his rare black wings. When he and Raivis, his only friend, are kidnapped by a rival tribe, they discover that the world is a lot bigger than they thought, and that anything can change in the blink of an eye. (Wingtalia AU) Cowritten with Hinotorihime.
1. Chapter 1

**Shadow's note: Once upon a time, I told Firebird about some vague wings!AU idea I had. It turns out that she is very enthusiastic about this AU, and is also amazing at worldbuilding. And so, here we are, co-writing the thing! (Like she says, you can probably tell who wrote what.) And yes, like she says, we're posting it on her AO3 account, as well, and we'll probably be updating every two weeks. I hope you all enjoy the story!**

 **Firebird's note: I've been obsessed with this AU since Shadow came up with the original idea, and slowly wormed my way into a consulting position by being _extremely enthusiastic_ about worldbuilding for it. At which point it was decided that I might as well just help cowrite the thing! (You can probably still tell who wrote what, despite attempts to edit for style...)**  
 **Anyway, I'm really excited for this~ We're also posting this story on my AO3, under the username _hinotorihime_.**

* * *

There was a world of mountains and oceans, and in that world there were people with great wings on their backs: people who, with their great wings, possessed the ability to soar above the clouds if they chose, or to hover below them, close to earth. The members of the seven different tribes could be distinguished most easily by the color of their wings, and so each tribe knew at a glance whether a strange flyer was of their tribe or not.

Or so it ought to be, but for the black wings that seemed to appear at random among the fledglings of certain tribes. And although these black-winged flyers were rare—or, perhaps, because of their rarity —they were shunned and known to be cursed, for how else could a child of Gold, or any of the rest, have been born with black wings?

Or perhaps only the Goldwings thought of black wings as cursed, and there were other tribes whose black-winged children—if there were any black-winged children in tribes other than Gold—were accepted as true members of the tribe. But in Gold at least, few questioned the idea of the curse. As far as one very small Goldwing knew, he was the only one to ever think that curses were utterly silly and quite cruel, and to believe that the supposedly cursed being was a perfectly normal person.

A perfectly normal person who kept bumping into things far more than was normal, but that could easily be explained by the fact that the black-winged boy was not very good at flying, and the little Goldwing, whose name was Raivis, was not very good either.

"You're getting better, though," said Raivis, as the black-winged boy made a very clumsy landing, dark wings beating frantically. "You didn't bump into too many things today, Eduard."

"I couldn't tell how close I was to the ground," said Eduard. "I thought I was higher up."

"Usually I can tell when I'm high up," Raivis said. "I don't really know why _you_ can't tell how high you are."

"That makes two of us." Eduard's wings folded in, and he sat down next to Raivis, sighing. "Are you going again, or is that all for now?"

"I'm a little tired," Raivis said. "Let's rest a little. That's one thing, Ed - you're a lot stronger than me, so you can fly longer."

"Not better, though," Eduard said. "You have better form."

"I had lessons," Raivis informed him, and instantly regretted it.

' _Oops. Ed didn't have lessons. We don't bring up lessons.'_

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I forgot."

"That big mouth is going to get you into trouble one of these days," Eduard said, not for the first time. Raivis' big mouth had become a sort of joke between them.

"Well, be glad you don't have a big mouth. Then you'd be in twice as much trouble."

"Not only shunned, but cast out completely. Thank you for that ray of hope, Raivis."

"You don't have a big mouth though, so you'll be fine," Raivis said. "We'll just be shunned together."

He glanced at Eduard, who did not look particularly hostile at the moment, and flopped down on top of the other boy, sighing.

"I'm sleepy, Eddy…"

"Well, you can't sleep here," Eduard grumbled. "Get off."

"But you're warm," Raivis said. "So I'm staying."

Eduard glanced up at the sky, and Raivis, following his gaze, saw that the sun was close to going down.

"It's time for you to get back," Eduard said. "You need to get something to eat so you can grow."

"I don't think I'm growing anymore," Raivis said. "I'm fifteen, so I think I'm just stuck like this forever."

"You might be surprised. Now get off me and get going. You're late."

"Aren't you coming too?" Raivis asked, blinking up at Eduard. "It's going to get dark soon. Something might eat you if you stay out too long."

"I won't get eaten, and I'll be along eventually," Eduard said. "See if you can save some scraps for me, or something."

He started to stand up, and Raivis slid off of him, landing uncomfortably on the ground. Eduard bent and hoisted Raivis up, then pointed him toward where the smoke of a fire was just barely visible against the pale sky.

"Go on now."

And, clumsily, Raivis did, flapping his wings hard until he was up high enough that he was confident of not falling unexpectedly into the ground. Wobbling unsteadily, he glanced back at Eduard, seeing the older boy sitting alone on the rocks where the two of them often met, staring after him.

"You can still come along _now_!" Raivis yelled. "Hurry and catch up, slowpoke!"

He stuck his tongue out for good measure, but Eduard shook his head, although he stood up as if he might fly after Raivis. The small boy hovered awkwardly in midair, waiting. But Eduard turned and began walking up the rocks to the top of the cliff, and Raivis turned clumsily and flew home, trying not to fall to the earth. He was shaking a bit when he finally made it home, but he often shook after flying, and he stood still for a moment, allowing his shivering to calm a bit before walking the rest of the way to the cave he called home.

His mother and father had left out food for him, and he ate part of what they had left and then went from the cave, carrying with him the remainder.

He found Eduard in his usual spot, a small not-really-cave some distance away from the rest of the tribe's dwellings, and offered the remainder of the food to the black-winged boy.

"They left a lot tonight," he said. "So, here! Lots of food."

"You're not going to grow giving all your food to me," Eduard said. "Take it back."

"Every single night, Eddy," Raivis grumbled, folding his arms across his chest and glaring in pretend annoyance. "I'm not growing anymore, so eat the food. I'm not going to eat it. I'm all full up."

He turned away, back toward his own cave, but Eduard's voice rang out quietly in the darkness, stopping him.

"Raivis."

"Yes?" He turned back to Eduard, and in the darkness he could barely see the other boy, but he could hear seriousness in his friend's voice, saw Eduard's hand outstretched with something small and dark in the open palm.

"If you're going to lie, be convincing," Eduard said. "If you really gave me food you weren't hungry for, like you say you do, you wouldn't be giving me blackberries, now would you?"

"Ah… I'm e-exceptionally not hungry t-tonight," Raivis stammered. "I…t-there were a lot of blackberries, and I didn't want to get sick, s-so…"

"You're a terrible liar," Eduard said. "You stammer when you're nervous."

' _And you've spent way too much time trying to figure out what makes people what they are. You know too much about how people behave - about how I behave. I guess because I'm closer to you, I'm easier to observe?'_

He said nothing, and Eduard sighed.

"Take these and eat them," he said. "Or I'll stop accepting food from you. I managed before on my own, and I can do it again."

"B-but…you like me, don't you?" Raivis said, as Eduard pressed the berries into his hand and leaned back into the shadows again. "I mean…you don't mind me being around?"

"No, of course not." Eduard sounded sort of desperate for an instant. "I would never _want_ you to leave, Raivis. But I watch people - you know I watch, I've told you - and in my watching I've learned that people are supposed to look after their friends. And we're friends, aren't we?"

"I'm looking after you, Eddy," Raivis said. "So that's being friends."

"And I am doing _what_ for you, Raivis?"

"You're just…being my friend. You're being my friend, and talking to me, and not treating me like my size makes me inferior to you, and…"

Eduard chuckled.

"Raivis, I'm the lowest of the low around here. I could hardly think of you as inferior."

It was starting to rain, and Raivis shivered slightly. Eduard, with eyes like an owl—maybe he _was_ an owl, a great dark owl with sooty wings—picked up on the shiver, and shifted to the far side of his hollow in the rock.

"Sit down, if you're going to stay here. You'll catch cold."

And Raivis, who did not really want to go back to his own cave, where his parents were probably already asleep, did. There was not much room in Eduard's little hollow, but there was enough room for Raivis if he folded his wings in tight.

"Having a friend," Eduard said, staring out into the night, "is a first for me. I wouldn't give that up unless you were endangered by me, understand? And I count you not eating enough just to give me food as being endangered by my existence."

"But you…"

"Hush," Eduard said. "From now on, you eat as much as you can, and then you can give me whatever's left over. But I won't eat it until you've eaten all you want, all right? I know where to find berries and herbs in the rocks. I can survive perfectly well without getting food from you."

He chuckled softly.

"Although I've never been this well fed before."

"Never?"

"Maybe before my feathers grew in," Eduard said thoughtfully. "But I don't remember much from that far back."

"I like your wings," Raivis said. "They're soft and big and I like them."

"Well, you like anything that will keep you warm, don't you?"

"Mhmm."

He leaned back, feeling long, dark feathers at his back, and hoped that he would not crush Eduard's wing.

"I'm sleepy, Eddy," he mumbled.

"Me too," Eduard said. "We flew a lot today."

"Yeah. Let's do it again tomorrow."

Raivis fell asleep in Eduard's little hollow in the rock, and when he woke again, the sun was rising, others were coming out of their caves, and Eduard was gone.

Raivis was not ashamed to be seen sleeping in the home of the 'cursed' boy, but he thought that Eduard might be afraid for people to find out that they were friends, afraid that they would be separated, and so he left the hollow immediately and went back to his own cave, where he ate most of the breakfast his parents had left for him.

He ate enough to be convincing, but he did not tell Eduard, when he handed the remaining food to the black-winged boy, that there had been a time when he, tiny Raivis Galante, had eaten all the food his parents allotted to him three times a day, and had still been very hungry.

His parents did not give him nearly as much food as Eduard seemed to think they did.

' _Goldwings look after their own, but Eduard is not "one of us" because his wings are not golden, and I am not "one of them"because I am small and weak and can only barely fly. We are "part of them", but not entirely.'_

Eduard had finished the remains of the breakfast, and he stretched out his dark wings, lifting his blond head to the sky above.

"Well, Raivis? To the usual spot?"

' _To the place far enough from home that no one can hear us and tell us to stop, to the place where we can fly without being ridiculed for our weakness, but also to the place from which we can always return home when we are hungry. I wonder what would happen if we didn't return? I wonder if they'd remember we existed, if they'd notice we were gone?'_

He stretched out his tiny wings, shining bright gold in the sunlight, and at that moment, Eduard was in flight, steadier than he had been in previous days, dark wings beating less erratically than before. And clumsy Raivis, wobbling along on tiny, frantically beating wings, followed him.

* * *

He drew his knees up to his chest, curled awkwardly on his side with his useless wings pressed against the wall behind him, and he tried not to twist his wrists futilely against the ropes; he knew it was no use but he couldn't help it it hurt so _much—_

He whimpered.

(It was not a quiet whimper. He remembered a wolf cub he had found once, its leg shattered and a fever mounting, and how desperate and pitiful its cries had sounded. He'd had to put it out of its misery and he _didn't need to think about that_ right now—!)

"You sound like a dog," said the woman softly, echoing his thoughts. "Yelp for me, little pup."

With an impassive face, she took hold of his dislocated shoulder and twisted it. He gave up trying to resist and just let himself scream, tears springing to the corners of his eyes and blurring his vision.

Her long braid brushed his bare skin as she bent over him, mouth twisted into a pretty frown.

"You aren't in enough pain yet," she said, and brought the heel of her hand sharply down on his chest. He felt a rib snap and writhed, gasping, a shriek of agony catching in his throat.

Her knife-blade was covered in brown stains. As he convulsed, she yanked his arm forward, dug the point into his skin, and sliced quickly down, parallel to the other scars that littered his forearms. The wooden bowl sitting ready by her feet was stained too. She pressed it against the wound, letting blood pour into it.

She took more today—the bowl was almost full when she removed it, maybe a full finger-length deep or more. She spared a brief moment to press a cloth against the wound until the bleeding slowed. No sense in being wasteful; no sense in leaving him to bleed out as long as she still needed him.

Then she kicked him casually aside and picked up the bowl again. Her bare feet made quiet slapping sounds on the stone as she walked away.

He tried and failed to steady his breathing, so as not to aggravate the stabbing pain in his ribs, but his wracking sobs remained shallow and uneven. Later, he knew, someone would come to clean him up, splint and bandage his injuries, return his clothes and help him eat something, and then life would return to some semblance of normality and they would all pretend he was just a prisoner until they needed blood again—but for now he closed his eyes and turned his face to the wall and let himself cry quietly.

She ducked outside and went to stand on the edge of the cliff. The sun was setting in the lowlands; the air was crisp as the sky darkened. She dipped her hand into the bowl she held and with one part of her mind she watched silver spread on the top of the garishly red liquid, forming a pool of light around her fingers. The other part was reaching out and around, stretching across the ravine to the caves, where she could feel people moving and breathing. She let the magic flow in that direction: fire to burn through, cleanse and destroy; it poured through the connection and purged through every spirit she sensed like a hurricane.

Suddenly, the rush of power slowed to a trickle; the virtue in the blood was gone. With a heavy sigh she stopped the magic before it could start to rip at her own life force and began to tip out the bowl over the side of the cliff.

"You look tired," came a voice from beside her.

"It is a tiring spell," she replied, turning to face the man who had just alighted. He nodded once and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing comfortingly. His tall, broad frame could easily overpower even the mountain lions that sometimes attacked hunters who strayed too far from the caves, but his large hands were gentle when they needed to be. She leaned against him, letting her wings relax.

"Is it working?" he asked anxiously.

"For now. That boy is worthless in all other respects but his blood is unusually potent."

He shrugged his big shoulders until they strained at the seams of his fur-lined jacket. "I do not like to hear you talk like this, little sister."

"Then you will like even less what I have to say next." Absently, she ran her finger around the rim of the bowl, leaving a red smear on the glossy wood. "Potent or not, it still isn't enough. Magic is about wholes, yes? I think I need a larger whole to work from."

His arm tightened around her, but he said nothing. She looked up at his troubled face and put her bloody hand to his cheek.

"I need more prisoners, Brother."


	2. Chapter 2

**Shadow: And so, Yasumi and I return! I think. I'm really not entirely certain. So yes anyways, um...this is a chapter? You may once again guess on who wrote the sections if you wish. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

 **Firebird's note: yes that is Chinese and yes that is sassy Toris and and yes Nikolai is nyo!Belarus. Also Nikolai is a jerk and we love him. XD Please enjoy the fruits of our efforts!**

* * *

"Eddy, do you think my flying is getting steadier yet?"

Eduard did _not_ think so, and he would have said it, but that might make Raivis cry, so he settled for a noncommittal grunt, which Raivis, of course, took to mean yes.

"I think you're getting better too," the small boy informed him. "Maybe soon, we'll be able to fly all the way away from here."

"And where would you go if you could fly all the way away from here, Raivis?" Eduard asked.

Raivis hummed thoughtfully.

"I don't know really. Maybe I'd go and look for a tribe that wouldn't mind me being so small. But first, I just want to meet some people from the other tribes. They make me curious. And I want to hear all of the stories about the other tribes, the ones no one in Gold will tell."

"Why?" Eduard asked. "What is it about the other tribes that makes them more interesting than Gold?"

"Maybe the fact that Goldwings look down on people who have different colored wings," Raivis said. "And…people here look down on us too, you know. So I'd like to meet some other people who aren't accepted by our tribe, and see if they were nicer than us Goldwings."

"I thought you just said you and I weren't accepted as Goldwings," Eduard said. "Yet you still called us Goldwings."

"We still kind of are Goldwings, even though we aren't accepted as full members of the tribe," Raivis said. "It's just because of where we were born, though. Anyways, I don't want to be a Goldwing. I'd rather just be me. You're lucky, Eddy, to have black wings. I know you don't like them and all, but since you have them, no one will ever mistake you as something you're not."

"They've mistaken me as being cursed," Eduard muttered.

"Except that," Raivis said. "But I meant in relation to what tribe you're in. Although…I guess, as long as you're with Gold, people will assume that's what you are. That's why I want to go away, so I can be whatever I choose to be."

Eduard was not really listening to Raivis anymore. Over time, he had trained himself to listen for the sound of approaching flyers, for he knew that while everyone in Gold merely ignored and tolerated him, other tribes might not be so forgiving. He heard wings now, coming closer, as if they might belong to other young Goldwings stopping by to tease the two misfits. But these flyers were not coming from the direction of their tribe's camp.

"Raivis, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Raivis asked. The boy suddenly fell silent, his face screwed up in concentration.

"Wings…? Eddy, look behind you!"

Eduard did, and he saw, behind him on the rocks, several people, who were most definitely not Goldwings. They looked like hunters, perhaps, and their wings were bright silver. All were strangers. Eduard had never met a person from another tribe before.

"Hello," said Raivis to the Silverwings. "Where did you come from?"

"Where do you think?" one of the Silverwings asked.

"From your home?" Raivis asked. "But why are you here then? Shouldn't you be back at your home, instead of at our home?"

"You're not far from Gold's camp," Eduard told the Silverwings. "What are you doing here?"

"We're on official business," said the Silverwing who had spoken before.

"Would you like to speak to our chief?" Eduard asked.

"'Our' chief? You don't look like a Goldwing, cursed boy."

"Don't talk that way about Eddy!" Raivis squeaked. "He's not cursed. He's a lot nicer than you are, too!"

"You could use to learn some manners, runt," the Silverwing growled.

"Raivis, fly home now," Eduard murmured. "I don't like this, but if they're honest people, they won't follow you."

Raivis' wings were already partially extended, fluttering nervously, but he did not take off, instead hovering anxiously behind Eduard, as if reluctant to leave his friend.

' _He's loyal; I'll give him that. But loyalty will get him into trouble now. I don't trust these people.'_

" _Raivis_ ," Eduard said. "These people are trespassing on our territory. Go warn the tribe. They'll know what to do, and they'll believe you over me. I'll stay here and talk to these intruders."

"I'm afraid we won't be letting him leave," said the Silverwing. "Our business, you see, involves bringing a Goldwing home with us. And you, cursed boy, will have to come too."

"Raivis, just fly!" Eduard snapped, and the small boy finally did. Two of the Silverwings lifted off at the same moment, flying in pursuit of Raivis, and Eduard took off after them. But his wings were slow, and so were Raivis', and besides that, Raivis could barely fly for shaking.

Eduard was still far below Raivis, practically still on the ground, when the Silverwings caught up to the little boy, and although he still struggled to gain altitude, to reach Raivis, he could do nothing to stop the Silverwings from taking hold of Raivis' arms, trying to force the small flyer to the ground. Raivis, though, was older than the Silverwings probably thought he was, and while he was not as cunning as many young adults, he _was_ smart enough to attempt to wriggle out of the Silverwings' hold.

"Stop it, kid," one of the Silverwings snapped, and then there was a pained cry, and Raivis was falling.

Eduard had caught a falling Raivis before, and he was prepared to slam into the earth full force with the smaller boy on top of him, but he was not prepared for Raivis to be really hurt. He did not know what he would do if the Silver in the sky had hurt Raivis.

But when they landed in a heap, Raivis' body was heavy and limp, and he did not respond to Eduard's attempts to push him off.

Dazed, Eduard tried again to push Raivis off of him, but then the lead Silver picked the little boy up, and from the limp way Raivis hung in the stranger's arms, Eduard had no doubt that the boy was either knocked unconscious, or dead.

"Let him go," Eduard growled. "I'm cursed, remember? I'll put a curse on you if you don't let him go."

Several of the Silverwings exchanged nervous glances, but their leader, who was obviously older than the others, and probably wiser, laughed.

"Don't be ridiculous, boy," he said. "Even if there _is_ magic in you, your tribe wouldn't have given you the skills to use it. No, you've been shunned your whole life, with no chance of learning the magic that you would have to use to curse us. Isn't that right?"

The Silverwing cast a glance at the unconscious Raivis.

"Shunned or not," he said, looking back up at Eduard, "you _do_ have one friend. You wouldn't want him to get hurt any more, would you?"

"Are you threatening me?" Eduard asked. "With the life of someone from the tribe that called me cursed?"

' _Don't hurt Raivis don't hurt Raivis please please please do not hurt my friend…'_

"I'm threatening you with the safety of your friend," the Silverwing said. "You're stupid if you think you can fool me, cursed boy. He _is_ your friend. And he's a nearly useless runt, so I won't hesitate to kill him if I have to."

Eduard thought, from the uncertainty in the Silverwing's voice, that the man was lying, but he did not know for sure. And Raivis lay tiny and helpless in the stranger's arms, and Eduard would not be able to save him if the man was telling the truth.

"And if I cooperate with you, what will you do with us?"

"We'll take you away from this tribe," the Silverwing said. "Isn't that what you want? To go somewhere else?"

"I want to go somewhere that no one will call me cursed," Eduard said. "Silver is quickly dropping to last place on my list of options."

"Too bad," the Silverwing said. "Because, like it or not, Silver has need of people like you and your friend. So, come along, cursed boy, unless you want your little friend to have a nasty awakening. And don't think about trying to escape. You've already seen that we can fly better than you."

' _If I try, I can probably still escape. I know these mountains better than they do; I could certainly disappear into some canyon for a while. But then what would they do to Raivis? I think that man is lying, but I can't be sure… I can't risk it. And anyways, what do I owe the Goldwings? As long as Raivis is safe—as long as I can protect Raivis—I don't really care if all of Gold's children are kidnapped by Silver.'_

"Fine," he said. "I'll do whatever you want. Just don't hurt Raivis."

"Good boy. Now, I think your little friend is waking up, so why don't you reassure him, tell him what you're going to do?"

He did not really know what they were going to do, but he knew at least that he and Raivis were going to cooperate with the Silverwings, and so, as the tall Silver set Raivis down on the ground, he knelt next to the small boy, watching him come awake. Raivis woke wide-eyed and frightened, and Eduard had to resist the urge to tell the Silverwings that he was going back on the deal, that he alone would accompany them to Silver, but that they must let Raivis go.

But he could not do that, for he was one child in the midst of a group of kidnappers, and he did not think that, even with the curse they all said he carried, that he could do much damage to them, let alone bend them to his will. So he leaned down, murmuring in Raivis' ear, trying not to let his voice shake, trying to sound as if he were absolutely positive that they would be all right.

"Raivis, we have to go with these people, all right? I know they're not very nice, but we can get away from Gold this way, you see? I don't think these people will hurt us as long as we do what they say, so I want you to follow their orders, okay?"

"B-but Eddy…" Raivis' entire tiny body was shivering, and his wings, half-extended, quivered madly. "I don't want to… They're not nice, and they scare me…"

"I know, but…"

' _But they threatened to hurt you. You're my only friend; I can't let them hurt you…'_

"Raivis. Please trust me. We do not have a choice but to go with these people. It will be safest for us to go quietly."

Quiet, yes, they were both good at quiet, at slipping around in the shadows, unnoticed by all. Really, this was the first time that someone besides Raivis had shown interest in Eduard. He wondered if it was the same for Raivis.

"Will you stay with me all the way there, and once we get there too?" Raivis asked.

"Yes, Raivis. I won't leave you, that I can promise."

He glanced at the lead Silverwing for confirmation, and the man nodded reassuringly.

"See. Even that man says we can stay together. Now come on, Raivis. They want to get going, and we have to fly with them."

"O-okay," Raivis whispered, still shaking. "B-but Eddy… Will we really be okay?"

' _Does either of us even know what that word means, Raivis? Have you ever been "okay"? I am not sure that I have ever been "okay". But maybe "okay" means we are not being harmed…yet, I think we are being harmed even now. They are kidnapping us, and for young flyers who were not_ us _, kidnapping would most definitely be harm. As it is…we_ want _to leave Gold. So this is not quite harm to us. So…we are okay?"_

"I think we'll be okay, Raivis," he said. "But we have to do exactly what these people say, understand?"

Raivis nodded.

"I'm not a baby. You told me once, and I understood then."

"Good."

Eduard glanced at the Silverwings, and their leader came and pulled Raivis to his feet.

"Come on," the man said. "We have a lot of flying to do before dark, if we want to reach Silver. So fly fast, little boy."

He smiled at Raivis.

"If you don't fly fast, we might leave you behind, and your friend won't be able to catch you when you fall this time."

Raivis turned to Eduard, eyes wide and anxious, and Eduard placed a reassuring hand—steady, Raivis thought of steadiness as reassurance, and Eduard never shook—on the small boy's shoulder, trying to calm him.

"I won't let them leave you behind, Raivis," he said. "Remember, we're going to be okay."

' _I've changed my mind just now. I don't think we're going to be okay at all.'_

* * *

Toris tucked his wings in close to his back and shrugged his shirt over his head, letting it billow and settle under his brown feathers still damp from washing. Neck ties, waist sash, and then he sighed a little; he missed his jacket, it had been a gift from his brother and he had no idea what Natalya had done with it but he hadn't seen it in months and his back felt uncomfortably exposed without it. These days he had to use his extra sashes, instead, wrapping them tightly around his chest so they crisscrossed between his wings and hid the bare skin from view. Then he flopped down onto his blankets, pulled a lock of hair into his mouth to nibble on, and stared at the wall for a bit.

There wasn't really that much to _do_ here, besides washing, sleeping, and daydreaming in turns.

He didn't feel like counting the cracks in the wall again, so he looked around for something else to occupy himself with. There was a small hole in one of his blankets. He stuck a finger in and wiggled it. Now it was a slightly bigger hole.

"Toris!"

He looked up. A woman burst into the cave, chest heaving and silver wings fluttering anxiously.

"Miss Katya? What's wrong?"

"She's brought in new ones," Katya fretted. "I thought you would want to see them—oh, it's dreadful, one of them is hardly more than a fledgling—"

Toris shot to his feet.

"Where are they?"

She waved a hand vaguely toward the entrance.

"In the bigger one, I think—what am I going to do with her? What's next? I didn't _raise_ her like this—!"

Toris decided not to bother trying to get any more sense out of her.

He sprinted outside, cold stone giving way to sparse grass under his bare feet. The caves here were arranged in a rough semi-circle, all facing the edge of the cliff—no way to get up or down, except to fly. Toris' cave was at the far left; he headed for the one in the center.

From outside, with red-gold light pouring in from the sunset, he could see half a dozen hunters and two—well, they _had_ to be children, they were too small to be full-grown.

(The really little one looked to be Gold; the other's wings were dark—maybe Night? He couldn't make out the color properly.)

"Nikolai!" Toris hissed. The man turned with a scowl.

"What do you want?" he grumbled.

"What's going on?" Toris parried. "Taking children now—getting desperate, are you?"

"Natalya's orders are none of your affair," said Nikolai stiffly.

"Enough of my affair to see they're scared out of their wits! Stars above, Nikolai, let me through!"

Nikolai hesitated, then moved aside, still scowling. Toris ducked inside and hurried over to the boys. The taller one had the small one's arm in a death-grip, eyes narrowed defiantly.

"Hey," Toris said softly, "hey. It's okay." He dropped to his knees and held out his hands placatingly.

"They said they're going to clip our wings!" the tiny Goldwing cried. He sounded almost hysterical.

Toris spread his own wings, to block the Silvers' view and give them a bit of privacy.

"They have to," he explained, "to keep you from flying away. It doesn't take very long—"

"They promised they wouldn't hurt him," the other boy said fiercely. Inwardly, Toris winced a little, but he said in a calm voice:

"It won't hurt, I promise. It's just cutting off a couple of feathers, that's all, and they'll grow back with your next molt. "

"But I _don't want—!_ "

"You don't have a choice."

Toris reached out and set a hand on the little boy's shoulder. The child flinched away.

"Come here," he said softly. "I'll hold you while they do it, okay?"

"I—"

"Fighting back doesn't work here," Toris said flatly. "You just have to cooperate. Close your eyes and it'll be over in a moment and then you can sleep, okay? You must be exhausted."

The boy glanced at his companion, who was still glowering suspiciously at Toris.

"Ed?"

"He's right," the taller boy said grudgingly. "We need to cooperate." His baleful gaze became more thoughtful.

Eventually the little boy scrambled onto Toris' lap, burying his face into Toris' chest, and the dark-winged boy knelt beside them and gripped the tiny hands tightly. Toris lowered his wings and raised his voice a little.

"Nikolai! They're ready, hurry up and—"

"Don't think you can order me around," the Silverwing said huffily. Toris wanted to laugh.

' _Jealous, are you, that a useless_ _ **mistake**_ _like me has to help you with your own job?'_

But he didn't say anything aloud, just pulled the little boy close against his body and hummed in his ear.

 _Hao yi duo mei li de mo li hua..._

Gold feathers caught the light and glinted as they spiraled to the floor.

 _Fen fang mei li man zhi ya..._

"See?" he murmured when it was done. "It didn't hurt at all... Now sleep. It's been a long day for you, I'm sure." He gently stroked the curly blond head.

"We need to do the other one too," Nikolai grumbled. Toris looked over.

"I don't need you to hold me," the boy said. He stood and crossed his arms, extending his wings, with a haughty expression that was ruined by the concerned glances he kept shooting at the fledgling in Toris' arms.

" _I don't trust you_ ," he whispered, once Nikolai was finished and Toris was handing over the sleeping child. There was venom in his voice, at odds with the care with which he cradled the child against his shoulder, folding his wings around them both. (The sun was down now, but Toris couldn't shake the feeling that the wings he still couldn't make out weren't blue after all, but _black_ , even though that was impossible, of course.)

"Everyone out," Nikolai said loudly. "I'll send someone with blankets later."

They all shuffled out. Toris couldn't help but look back at the two boys one more time, huddled together against the wall. A pang of loneliness shot briefly through him—but he was good at ignoring those.

Outside the cave, Nikolai grabbed Toris' arm and slammed him against the rocky wall.

"I could get tired of your interference, _half-breed_ ," he rumbled.

"I'm sure Natalya gets tired of your _incompetence_ ," Toris baited. "She wouldn't have been happy if you'd damaged her prisoners before she could even get her hands on them."

Nikolai cuffed him hard across the face.

"Get back in your cave," he ordered.

Toris went.


	3. Chapter 3

**Firebird's note: Awkward Feliks and mythology gags! This chapter may not be the most action-packed in the history of chapters, but it was fun to write. (And there will be action soon, don't worry ;) you just have to sit through exposition dumps of all my carefully crafted wordbuilding stuff first.)**

 **Shadow's note: Well, here we are at the third chapter! Anyone still with us? ;) If you are, thank you for reading so far, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

"You coming to see the new kids?"

Feliks leaned against the wall, scuffing his foot idly across the stone floor. Matt looked up at him with his brows furrowed.

"Is _that_ what all the fuss was about last night? I thought it was just that one guard shouting at Toris again."

"Psh, that guy gives as good as he gets, don't waste your time worrying about him. He knows they can't touch him, not when he's made himself her _favorite_ ~"

"Don't be like that," chided Matt. "I'm sure Toris is just doing what he can to keep out of trouble."

Feliks snorted. "By licking Natalya's feet? No thank you."

"So you'd rather get hurt?" Matt challenged. Feliks fell silent. "All I'm saying is maybe try to understand where he's coming from _before_ you make up your mind about him."

"Bit late for that."

"Well you don't have to badmouth him out loud."

"Hmph." Feliks folded his arms. "Whatever. Are you coming or not?"

"I'm coming."

Feliks pushed himself off the wall and beckoned with a hand. "They're this way. I haven't talked to them yet though." Because just the _thought_ of talking to them _by himself_ was sending sick roils of anxiety through his stomach. Especially since one of them had _black wings_ and was glaring at the world in general like he was going to kill the next person who so much as looked at the little cute one.

Matt pulled himself upright and fell into step beside him. Matt was a quiet and kind sort of smart, and his presence was comforting. Like Hynek, if Hynek had ever shut his mouth for more time than it took to stuff it with food. (Which was sort of a weird thought, actually— he and Matt had figured it out once and they were only about five months apart but somehow the difference between 20 and 19 meant so much more maturity on Matthew's end that he might as well be Feliks' five-years-older brother and that was _nice_ but still weird.)

As they ducked together into the cave, Feliks had to stop himself from grabbing Matt's hand. Because that would be super awkward probably. Instead he just tried to pretend he wasn't nervous, with rather limited success but hopefully since they didn't know him the new kids wouldn't notice.

"Greetings, small ones!" he called loudly. The 'small ones' looked up, startled, and the black-winged one stood up quickly, pulling the other with him and pushing the child subtly behind his back.

...he was a good deal taller than Feliks. Well.

"What do you want?" the boy said warily.

"We just wanted to come meet you, and say hello," said Matt, in his soft, carrying voice. "We're prisoners here too. My name's Matthew." He politely extended his sandy-colored wings so they could identify his tribe.

The tall boy kept his own unnaturally dark wings held close against his back, but he mumbled, "This is Raivis. I'm Eduard."

The tiny boy ( _he_ was shorter than Feliks anyway) poked his head out shyly, spreading his soft golden wings for a moment before wrapping them back around himself.

Matt kicked Feliks' ankle lightly, and he puffed up his chest and let his fire-red wings brush the walls.

"And you can call me Sir Feliks, or Feliks the Great!" he said airily. They all stared at him. "...or just plain Feliks works too. That's fine. Um..."

They kept staring. He shifted on his feet.

"My big sister used to call me Polskidoodle?" he offered, then mentally cringed. Of all the _stupid_ things to blurt out like that—!

The tiny Goldwing broke into a wide grin and chirped, "You're nervous, aren't you? That's okay, I get nervous too sometimes, and say things I don't mean... Anyway, hi Feliks!"

"Should we sit down?" said Matt, trying to disguise his laughter. Feliks flushed hotly and dropped to his knees, not looking at anyone.

"Really," said Raivis, plopping down cross-legged and tugging Eduard down next to him, "it's fine. Besides, that's a really cute nickname! Although I think I'll stick with Feliks personally—"

"Rai, stop talking," Eduard hissed, "you're making him even more embarrassed."

"Oops. Sorry..."

"'S fine," Feliks muttered. "It was stupid."

"Sisters can be like that," said Matt. "I have a brother myself— he's younger than me by a year almost exactly. Do you have any siblings, Raivis?"

And just like that, they weren't talking about Feliks anymore. That was Matt's gift; Feliks envied it a little, as he sat with his mouth pressed firmly shut for a while. But Raivis kept turning to him and asking him things, trying to drag him back into the conversation, and eventually he acquiesced.

He didn't know why Eduard was still _glaring_ like that, though.

"So..."

Eventually Raivis voiced the question that had to have been gnawing at him since the previous night— and Feliks had quickly learned that if Raivis had a question gnawing at him for any length of time he was going to ask it, appropriate time or no.

"Why are we here?"

Matt paused, then sighed quietly.

"I'm a mechanic, not a magician. Feliks, you can probably explain it better than I can."

Feliks shrugged. "There's not that much to explain really. Natalya— the sorcerer for Silver— she uses blood magic, do you know what that is?"

"Vaguely. I think our sorcerer uses runes or something, but she talked about blood is power once, or something like that?"

"Sorta. The blood channels the sorcerer's will more or less. Well, Natalya's kind of a little bit nuts so she's decided that she needs a bunch of people from other tribes to get blood from because it, like, makes her spells more powerful or something? I seriously can't ever tell what Princess Crazy is thinking. But anyway, every couple of weeks or so she drags one or both of us in and beats us up a bit and takes our blood."

He showed them the long, puckered scars that crisscrossed his forearms.

"It's not too bad here the rest of the time; since we don't have any weapons now and our wings have been clipped they mostly leave us alone. Have they done your wings yet?"

Eduard nodded tightly, flicking a wing out to show the missing feathers.

"It was scary," Raivis said quietly. "I was really terrified, actually. There was a boy who held me while they did it— he was really gentle— that helped some. But still..."

"The brown-haired one?" Eduard asked. "I don't think he ever said what his name was, but he was Earth, not Silver—"

"That was probably Toris," Matt said stiffly.

Feliks opened his mouth and Matt shot him a warning glance.

"He doesn't hang out with us much," he said instead. "Stays in his cave most of the time."

"Isn't he lonely?" Raivis' face took on a concerned expression.

"He shouldn't be, he does enough cosying up to the Silvers—" Feliks grumbled.

" _Enough_."

Feliks snapped his mouth shut.

There was a rather awkward silence.

"Eduard," Matt said abruptly, "you've been squinting this entire time. Did they take your spectacles?"

Eduard blinked at him.

' _ **That's**_ _why he was glaring?'_

"I've... never had spectacles," he said guardedly. Raivis shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, you obviously need them," said Matthew, raising a hand to his own specs— thick glass lenses set into leather frames, tightened around his head for flying. "Miss Katya might be willing to find you some, if you ask nicely. She tries to make sure we have what we need even though we're prisoners here; I think she feels bad about all of this or something. She's quite nice actually. I'd back you up if you'd like."

"You don't need to do that," Eduard said, almost harshly. "I've managed fine like this for seventeen years."

"You don't trust us," said Feliks point-blank.

Eduard went rigid, wings flaring out defensively.

"I totally don't blame you but seriously, if you need our help you should ask for it. There aren't many other people around here you _can_ ask. And we, like, know what you're going through—"

 _You don't, actually,_ said Eduard's expression, but Raivis slid a small hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

"He'll think about it," he said. "Right, Eddy? You guys seem really nice. Thank you for coming to talk to us."

"If you need us, we're in the cave right next to this one on the left," Matt told them.

"Yeah, or if you're just bored," butted in Feliks. "It's pretty boring here. Make that super boring. _Nothing_ to do but talk, it sucks."

"Thank you," Eduard said firmly. Matt took that as a cue to stand up.

"Really, I mean it. If you need _anything_."

Feliks nodded lamely, signalling his agreement.

Raivis waved at them as they left.

"Bye, Polskidoodle!" he called.

Feliks felt his face start to burn again.

* * *

"They seem pretty nice, Eddy!"

"I suppose," Eduard said, keeping his voice low, disinterested. Raivis seemed far more comfortable with the sudden attention from the other two prisoners than Eduard felt he should be.

' _For all we know, they could be tricking us. They're definitely not Silver, but that doesn't mean anything. They could still be working with them, and if they are…if Raivis gets attached and Feliks and Matt aren't what they seem, it will be bad for him."_

"Didn't you like them?" Raivis asked. "I think they're both really nice. It's just Feliks is a little shy, so he doesn't really know how to have a conversation. But that's kind of like me and you, so it's fine, right? And Matt is nice and quiet. I like him. He was really gentle, kind of like that brown-haired boy. His name was Toris, right? Do you think he'd be my friend? I would like it if he would be my friend. I think he's probably really lonely all by himself."

"I think…you should stay away from Toris," Eduard said. "He doesn't sound like the kind of person you should be getting attached to."

"But…but Eddy, he was really nice…"

"You can't judge people from appearances," Eduard said. "You don't know that he isn't a bad person. You can't make that decision just because he was nice to you."

"But you think everyone is bad," Raivis said. "Matt said he would help you get spectacles, so you can see, and that would be really good, Eddy. That's probably why you can't tell where the ground is. If you'd just try and believe that Matt is nice and let him help you talk to Miss Katya, whoever that is…"

"I don't need Matt's help, Raivis."

Eduard took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

' _I have managed by myself my whole life; no one in Gold ever offered me spectacles, so I'm certainly not going to let some Sandwing who thinks himself exceedingly clever get me some from the people who_ kidnapped _us. I don't trust any of those people, not even Matt and Feliks. It's stupid to trust them. The information they gave us_ — _if it's true_ — _will be helpful. But if that information is wrong, we'll know they're untrustworthy.'_

"Eddy," Raivis said, "sometime you're going to have to let somebody help you, you know, or you're going to end up getting really badly hurt. Why don't you like people helping you?"

' _Feliks was afraid of me. The Silvers don't care what becomes of me or Raivis; to them, we're just devices for their sorcerer's spells, if Feliks and Matt are to be believed. And judging from the scars, they were probably telling the truth.'_

"I'm fine by myself, Raivis, as long as I have you. But don't _you_ try to help me, either. I don't need it. I'm fine taking care of myself."

' _If they were telling the truth, and Silver's sorcerer is using prisoners for blood magic, then from what I know, we are here to be hurt just as Feliks and Matt are. Which means…that these people would dare to hurt Raivis…?'_

He glanced at the small boy, who was sitting as far away from the door as possible, his golden wings curled around him. In the day they had been there, Raivis had taken to shielding himself with his wings, hiding himself from even Eduard's view.

' _I won't allow it. I'll fight them. I'll be hurt myself before I'll let anyone hurt Raivis. He won't be touched; I just won't allow it. If Silver is anything like Gold, my status as a 'cursed' being should be enough to keep them from harming Raivis. Although…the leader of the Silvers who kidnapped us didn't think there was anything special about me.'_

"Hey, Eddy, I was just thinking," Raivis said. "I think you were right—there are tribes who wouldn't look down on us for being different. Matt seemed to think we were…normal."

"Feliks was afraid of me," Eduard said stiffly.

"Feliks was scared because he's shy, silly Eddy," Raivis said. "Not because he doesn't like you. I think he's just really shy, and scared of blurting out things he doesn't mean to say, so he's really awkward. That'd be my guess, anyways."

"How do you pick up so much about people, Raivis?" Eduard asked. "Even from a lifetime of watching, I couldn't have figured out what you did about him so quickly."

' _He's wrong on some counts, but still, his observation skills are remarkable.'_

"Well, I don't really know," Raivis said. "But I think…it's because I like stories, and everyone has a story. So I want to know…what kind of a character each person is. And Feliks is shy, but he also talks a lot when he's nervous. And he's pretty defiant too; the way he talked about the Silvers and about Toris was different from the way Matt talked. Feliks is…an interesting kind of character."

Raivis' wings hid most of his body, but through the gap, where his small wings did not touch, Eduard could see Raivis' eyes turn distant, thoughtful.

"I was thinking last night, actually," Raivis said, "that this is a story. I think, after what Matt and Feliks told us, about the blood magic, that it's a really interesting story, too. But it'll be a scary story, not for fledglings, but for people who are a little older, who want to feel a little scared, but who also want to hope that it'll be okay in the end."

He looked up at Eduard, his wings lifting slightly, so that his face and the front of his body were visible.

"I'm going to pretend this is a story," he said. "Because if I do, then I'll believe we'll be okay. In stories, the main characters always get through okay. R-right, Eddy?"

' _In his own way, he's acknowledging his fear, but trying to pretend that he isn't afraid, by turning this into a scenario in which we will come through all right.'_

"Right," he said. "Now, hero, why don't you get some sleep?"

"But it's still early," Raivis said in a matter-of-fact manner. "I don't need to sleep. We should go talk to Matt and Feliks again."

"Not right now," Eduard said. "I need to think."

' _I'd rather think forever than have to pretend to try to trust those people. I'm not going to trust them. They're_ normal _. They're not like Raivis. They're just…they are normal people. And normal people hurt me.'_


	4. Chapter 4

**Firebird's note: I have... nothing to say. Because I made Shadow do all the work for this chapter, haha! ...just kidding, it was just how the assignments panned out. But still.**  
 **In other news, actual action this chapter! *confetti***

 **Shadow's note: So yes, Yasumi forced me to do all the work on this chapter. (She did not force me at all, actually! It was great fun to write!) Interestingly, I also have nothing to say, other than the usual "I hope you enjoy!" bit. :)**

* * *

Main characters most certainly did not hide behind the nearest tall person when confronted with danger. However, most main characters were also not as short as Raivis was, so maybe that gave him an excuse.

And he wasn't so sure that stories were all that much like real life, anyway. Nobody in stories got scared in a bad situation, but Raivis was terrified. And Eduard, although of course he would never admit it, probably was too.

Raivis had taken to hiding behind Eduard as a general precaution, and also because Eduard wouldn't let him go anywhere that he would not be sheltered by the older boy's wings. Eduard had evidently decided that he was going to keep Raivis close, that keeping him close would keep him safe. Raivis disagreed, but there wasn't much he could do to stop him.

Eduard seemed fairly large and a bit intimidating to Raivis, but next to the Silverwings—particularly Nikolai, who seemed to be the leader of the hunting party that had captured them—he was almost as small and helpless as Raivis.

Raivis noticed this only because Nikolai was currently standing right in front of Eduard, threatening the blond boy, who was glaring—really glaring, the way only Eduard could, his half-blind squint coupled with real anger—pretending to be quite unafraid and refusing to back down.

"Go away," Eduard said. "We don't want to talk to you."

"I'm not here to talk," Nikolai said. "I'm here for the fledgling, and if you'll move, it will make things easier for everyone involved."

'The fledgling', Raivis could only assume, was him, although in his own opinion he was no longer a fledgling, but nearly a responsible adult.

"Leave Raivis alone," Eduard said. "You have no business with him that doesn't involve me, too."

"No, I'm very sure my orders were 'bring the fledgling and leave the cursed boy behind'. Natalya doesn't want you yet."

' _Natalya is the sorcerer and if she wants me, it means she's going to torture me. Do heroes get tortured? What should a main character do under threat of torture?'_

He decided that a real main character would probably have volunteered to get tortured in the first place, instead of hiding, but then, he had already decided that earlier, and this 'what would a hero do?' business really wasn't helping him at the moment, just making him feel like a coward, or, at least, decidedly unheroic.

"Eddy, you should probably not fight him," he said from beneath the shelter of his wings. "He'll get really mad, and then we'll all be in really big trouble. You don't want to be in big trouble, right?"

"I've been in trouble all my life." Now, _Eduard_ was the kind of person who acted heroically. Which, in this situation, was a really bad thing. "I'd rather protect you and get into trouble than not. I'm used to trouble, so be quiet."

"Why don't _you_ be quiet?" Nikolai growled. "You're causing a lot more trouble than that fledgling is."

"Why don't _you_ be quiet then?" Eduard snapped. "There wasn't any trouble until you showed up and kidnapped- Aah!"

"Eddy!" Raivis shrieked, his wings flying back away from his face as Eduard fell back and to the side, leaving Raivis exposed. Nikolai, his hand raised to hit Eduard again, towered over both of them, and Raivis decided that this entire situation would be over quicker if he went with Nikolai. He stood up, wondering if Nikolai could see him shaking. (He probably could; Raivis' wings were fluttering nervously, uselessly, and _that_ Nikolai could certainly see.)

Eduard tried to sit up, to stand up, but Nikolai kicked him back, and Raivis managed to edge past Nikolai and Eduard to the cave entrance.

"I'm r-ready to go now!" he squeaked, and Nikolai turned to stare at him, while Eduard, predictably, started shouting again.

"Raivis, get back here right now!"

"No thank you," Raivis said as politely as he could under the circumstances. "I don't enjoy watching you get beaten up, Eddy."

He almost wished he hadn't turned around, just so he wouldn't have seen the look on Eduard's face. He wasn't sure if Eduard was angry at him, or at Nikolai, or if he was just trying not to cry, but he had never seen Eduard show that much emotion, and he never wanted to see it again. Eduard was not a person of emotions; he was a quiet boy who lived on the fringes of the world of winged people, and Raivis did not like seeing him involved in the world, not in this way.

"Bye, Eddy," he said, and he almost added 'I'm sorry', except that he wasn't really sorry, as long as Eduard didn't get beaten unnecessarily. That would be worse than just about anything else. And he thought now that he was right to disagree with Eduard's decision to protect him at all costs. Trying to protect him would only get the older boy hurt.

He had to wait outside the cave for Nikolai, because he did not know the way, and the Silverwing led him down the path without a word, round and round along twisting pathways. Nikolai did not speak until they finally arrived at their destination, a cave on the very edge of the cliff.

"In there."

Raivis nodded, and ducked inside, stopping just inside the entrance.

"H-hello?"

And then he heard footsteps behind him, whirled to face the person, expecting Nikolai, but seeing instead another Silverwing.

It was a woman, young, long silver-blond hair braided and draped over her shoulder, and she was beautiful.

"You're the sorcerer?" he blurted. "You're very pretty."

She showed no sign of hearing his last remark, her face remaining blank, blanker even than Eduard's. She was not only beautiful, Raivis decided, but frightening too.

"I am the sorcerer," she said, and her voice was soft in volume, but hard in tone. "Do you know why you are here, fledgling?"

"To get tortured," Raivis said. "Will it hurt?"

"Yes." Not a flicker of emotion. He wondered if she _had_ any emotions.

"A-and your name is Natalya?" he asked. "Can I call you that, or should I call you something else?"

"It makes no difference."

He fidgeted uncomfortably. Never before had he met a person who showed so little emotion.

"U-um… S-so, do you want to g-go on now? What should I do?"

"You should stay still, and not fight," said the sorcerer named Natalya, and then she kicked him off his feet.

He had fallen from far greater heights, but that had been his own fault, his own clumsiness that had sent him tumbling to the ground. This was an injury inflicted by outside force, and he was not used to that, and it hurt him more than he had expected.

"You are very small," Natalya observed. "It should not take much, then. But we will see. Perhaps you are more resistant than you look."

"Does it help if I scream?" he asked, because it seemed like she wanted him to be in pain, and screaming would make it seem like he was in pain.

She did not answer, but he screamed anyway, because she had suddenly taken hold of his hair and it _hurt_ , possibly more than being kicked, to have her trying to rip his hair out.

She let him fall to the floor again, kicked him, and he wondered very vaguely how much it would take to break his ribs. Her kicks were surprisingly vicious, and he tried to curl up to escape, whimpering, only to have her next kick connect with his face.

His nose was bleeding; he couldn't see—was there blood in his eyes or were they just not open? He couldn't tell, and he sobbed "Stop, stop, don't hurt me!" before he could remember that that was not something heroes did.

Natalya, being, for all apparent purposes, their story's villain, did not stop, merely paused for a moment to look at him. Raivis uncurled, tried to sit up, whimpering, blood trickling down his face from his possibly broken nose.

"Sit against the wall," Natalya said. "I don't need blood yet. Don't curl up. I need you to be in pain."

"I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't…" He bit his lip, whimpering, but trying not to beg.

' _Won't do any good. Wants to hurt me no matter what.'_

"Sit against the wall, fledgling!" Natalya barked.

"My name is Raivis," he said. "Why are you hurting me?"

Natalya sighed, and then, almost before Raivis realized what she was doing, long before he had time to react, she grabbed his hair and pulled, harder than before. Raivis screamed.

She dragged him by his hair, and he had no choice but to stumble along behind her, whimpering. She threw him against the wall, and he leaned back, his wings cushioning him. He nearly wrapped them around himself before he remembered that he was being tortured, and that his wings would be far harder to mend than his ribs. He tucked his wings behind himself as best he could, drew them in tight, although it was hard to do that, considering his first impulse was to hide behind the golden feathers.

' _Feathers…golden feathers…black feathers… I want Eddy. I want Eddy to come and save me. Maybe Eddy should be the hero. I can be…a princess? Sure. Princesses get to-"_

"Stop!" he shrieked, the cry torn from his throat by the pain. Something had cracked in his chest; he was sure of it, and it hurt terribly.

"Stop, please stop, I don't want to get hurt! I want Eddy!"

Another kick to the damaged area, and his cries weren't words anymore, just screams that he couldn't stop. He scared himself, hearing his own shrieks and thinking that, if he had not known the cries were his own, he would have been horrified by the thought of the torment that would cause such agonized screams.

And then the kicking stopped, and he was left sobbing, his screams gradually dying away as he realized that he was no longer being tormented.

"Good, fledgling. Good. That will be enough."

His eyes were foggy with tears, but he glanced up at Natalya, and that she was brandishing a knife, drawing it close to his body, and he cowered away, terrified.

"Stay still," Natalya said. "I have to do this now, then it will be done. You want to mend, do you not, fledgling? You will be mended sooner if you cooperate."

' _No more pain…'_

He let himself go limp, shut his eyes tight, and his entire body hurt so much that he could barely even tell where she cut, only knew that she took his blood and then went away.

Then there were footsteps, heavier than Natalya's, and he was too afraid to look and see who it was, merely whispered, "I want Eddy", and hoped the person would take him to Eduard.

"Get up, and you can see him."

"No. Want Eddy now."

' _I just want Eddy to come, Eddy will protect me, please get Eddy so I can feel safe I don't wanna get hurt anymore…'_

"Do you want to get hurt?" It was Nikolai speaking to him, Raivis decided.

"No…no, don't hurt me. Just let me see Eddy."

"Get up." Nikolai tried to pull Raivis up, and Raivis whimpered, clenching his teeth and trying not to scream.

"You can walk fine, so come on," Nikolai said. "I won't ask again. I'll hit you. Or maybe I'll just leave you here, and you won't get to see Eduard."

And Nikolai wouldn't lie about that; he would tell the truth, even to a fledgling, and Raivis tried to remember that he was not really a fledgling anymore, anyway, and that adults—heroes—had to be strong, and he managed to get up, although he could not move without sobbing in pain.

He tried not to cry, but he did as Nikolai dragged him back up the path, and when the tall Silverwing pushed him into his cave, he crumpled on the floor and began to sob in earnest.

"R-Rai? _Raivis_?"

Black wings curled around him, shielding him, protecting him. Eduard, awkward and hesitant and _angry_ —Raivis could hear the anger in his voice—knelt in front of him, and Raivis let black wings—or maybe it was just darkness, and not Eduard's wings—surround him.

"They brought him back." Feliks' voice was quieter than usual, almost as subdued as it had been when they had first gone to meet Raivis and Eduard.

"It's not good, then?" Matt asked, glancing up at the Firewing, who shook his head.

"He was crying. I mean, that doesn't mean much, since he's younger than us and it was his first time, but…"

"But it looked bad?"

"Yeah."

Matt stood up slowly, deliberately, fighting against his own urge to stay safely inside his own cave, and not interfere with anyone else.

"What are you doing?" Feliks seemed curious, but still worried, and if thoughtless, defiant Feliks was worried, Raivis had been badly hurt. Matt and Feliks had seen the fledgling taken earlier, heard Eduard shouting, and they had been waiting for Raivis to come back ever since.

"I'm going to check on him," Matt said. "Eduard too; he'll be angry, looking for someone to blame, and it's better if he takes it out on us rather than anger the guards…"

"So you want to go and get cursed?"

" _Feliks_."

The blond boy shrugged, although he did not seem particularly apologetic.

"Like everybody knows black wings mean you're cursed. I mean, yeah, it _might_ not be true, but I'm still not going in there with him if he's angry. Don't you believe in curses, Matt?"

"Not particularly. And even if Eduard is cursed and has the power to curse us in turn, I don't think there's any way this situation can get worse. Come on, Feliks. I'm sure Eduard won't curse us."

He stepped out of the cave, and Feliks, suddenly silent and pale, followed.

' _It's not that I believe in curses. I don't. But I also think Eduard could be dangerous, and his anger could endanger him in turn. We need to try to calm him down, for everyone's safety.'_

He saw Eduard coming, of course, but he let the black-winged boy kick him, letting himself fall to the ground rather than receive another kick.

"We're not going to hurt you, Eduard," he wheezed, trying to recover himself. "Feliks, don't you _dare_ …" The Firewing looked ready to attack Eduard, and _that_ would certainly complicate Matt's mission to calm Eduard.

"Then who _are_ you going to hurt?" Matt couldn't tell if Eduard's voice was so low and gruff from anger or from tears, but either way, the black-winged boy was frightening in this state, wings outstretched, glaring—it wasn't just a squint anymore; he really was glaring at them.

"We just wanted to check on Raivis, like any decent person would." Feliks, not at all calming, but blunt in his nervous state, spoke the words that Matt had not managed to catch his breath fast enough to say.

"That's right," Matt said, standing up and brushing himself off. "We want to make sure he's okay. We've been hurt too, Eduard; we want to help you and Raivis if we can."

Eduard did not move, but his wings lowered slightly, and Matt continued softly, soothingly.

"We're your friends. I promise, okay? You can trust us."

"I don't trust anyone," Eduard said.

"You trust me," said Raivis' voice, weak and pained. "And _I_ trust _them_. So you should too, okay?"

Glancing past Eduard, Matt saw Raivis lying in the corner of the cave, curled up, watching them. The small boy grinned weakly.

"Hi, Matt and Polskidoodle."

"Hey," Feliks said awkwardly, and Matt echoed the greeting.

"Eduard," Matt said carefully, "would it be all right for Feliks to go sit with Raivis? I want to talk to you for a minute. No tricks, I promise. If something happens to Raivis, you can throw me off the cliff. I can't fly now, so the fall will probably kill me."

To coax Eduard using his own life as a bargaining chip was probably quite suicidal, but then, Eduard would probably not have accepted anything else. The black-winged boy glanced at Feliks, then at Raivis, who nodded weakly.

"Go on, Eddy. I'll be fine with Feliks."

So Matt turned and left the cave, and walked to the edge of the cliff, Eduard following him.

Matt sat down, dangling his feet over the edge, and Eduard sat next to him, stiffly, his knees tucked up close to his chest.

"I know you don't trust me," Matt said, trying to maintain eye contact with Eduard, although it was difficult with the other boy staring fixedly at his knees. "You really have no reason to, and I'm not going to force you to trust me. But I also…I don't think it really makes any difference, but Sandwings don't view black wings as a curse. Actually, I'd never even heard of anyone with black wings before. So…I don't think there's anything wrong with you. In fact, I think your wings are interesting. Probably something genetic caused them... But, in any case, I don't believe it was a curse."

Eduard did not reply, and Matt looked away, sighing, staring down toward the earth that seemed so far away.

' _I miss flying. I miss knowing that if I fell from this cliff, I would be all right anyway. To not be able to fly is frightening.'_

"If you don't believe in curses," Eduard said, "then tell me this: do you have the ability to protect your friends? Feliks, can you protect Feliks?"

"No," Matt said. "I don't think Feliks would allow it, and even if he would…I couldn't, in this place. I don't have that power."

He tried to think through his next words, tried to think from Eduard's point of view.

"The ability to protect someone doesn't stem from your strength or your 'normalcy'. I am as powerless to protect any of the other captives as you are. You're not at fault for letting Natalya torture Raivis. There was nothing you could have done about it. You would only have hurt yourself fighting for him, and that would have hurt him, too. I…if I were you, if someone so little and so close to me was hurt, I might want to take revenge. But I also think you should realize that fighting won't get us anywhere. That's something I'm not sure Feliks realizes either, so I won't blame you or him for trying to fight. You're probably both braver than I am for that."

He smiled softly, twirling a strand of hair around his finger.

"But, for all that…beyond the anger and the wish to take revenge, you're sad, aren't you? I think…I think that you should keep in mind that you being hurt in an attempt to exact vengeance or to defend Raivis will only result in him feeling as you feel now."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Eduard's voice was a mere whisper, barely audible despite how close they were.

"I don't know. We'll figure it out."

Eduard and Feliks were not people who would quietly take this, this kidnapping and the abuse that had followed. They would want to fight against it, and Matt's conclusion, one he had come through during the days he had spent already in the Silverwing camp, was that fighting would do nothing against the Silverwings. It might be that through reasoning, through calm speech, they could work it out. But that was something he did not think defiant Feliks would understand, much less Eduard, who had, it seemed, only one friend, and thought of everyone else as his enemy.

So he did not say what he thought they should do, but pushed himself away from the cliff edge and stood up, extending a hand to Eduard.

"We'd best be getting back inside. Feliks and Raivis will be wondering where we've been."


	5. Chapter 5

**Firebird's note: See, fair is fair.**  
 **In any case, _sand has video games I'm so proud of myselffff_ and we're also very very proud of Eddy! He has made Progress!**

 **Shadow's note: So yes, this time Firebird did all the work and I sat on my lazy butt. And Eddy made Progress apparently. xD**

* * *

He remembered sitting on a wide ledge, bathed in orange sunlight, sharp shadows on the rocks and on Kiku's pale skin. Toris swung his legs absently over the side.

"I heard," said Kiku, "that in Sand they've made little toys— boxes, with metal discs inside that have notches cut into them. And the notches all fit into each other so that you turn one disc and it turns another and that turns another... and it can move all sorts of things. They use them to make games. They put the gears in boxes and on the top of the box you can make the figures move..."

"You're having me on." Toris pulled the hair he'd been chewing out of his mouth and frowned.

"I'm not!" Kiku's face was alight with curiosity. "I heard there are little chips, too, that you put inside and it changes how the gears move, so you can play different games on the same box."

"Maybe at the next craft fair you'll be able to see one?" suggested Toris.

"I hope so. It sounds...amazing."

"Yeah, it does." Toris went back to chewing his hair. He'd had a headache all day, pounding behind his eyes and making him feel sick and dizzy.

"Kiku?"

"Yes?"

"Do I look... I don't know. Pale or something?"

Kiku looked him over. "A little flushed, maybe. Are you feeling unwell?"

"A bit," Toris admitted.

Kiku hesitated, put a tentative hand on Toris' forehead, then jerked it back.

"You're burning up! Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I felt fine this morning when we left..." he protested weakly. His brother clucked his tongue disapprovingly.

"Can you fly or are you too dizzy?"

"Um, maybe?"

Kiku ended up having to hold his hand the entire way home, and once they got there, Toris stumbled into the cave and collapsed into Yao's arms.

"Sorry..." he mumbled.

"Are you going to throw up?"

"Mm-mm."

"Then let's get you to bed," said his older brother.

His head felt fuzzy. Yao sat beside him on the mattress and Toris curled up with his burning face nestled into Yao's lap as if he was still a fledgling. Yao stroked his hair and sang softly.

 _Hao yi duo mei li de mo li hua, hao yi duo mei li de mo li hua_

They were nonsense syllables as far as Toris knew. They threaded through his childhood in Yao's calm, light voice; as far back as he could remember, accompanied by those gentle hands; he had never doubted that his brother loved him.

 _Fen fang mei li man zhi ya, you xiang you bai ren ren kua..._

The song faded into the floatiness of the fever. Toris slept.

* * *

He imagined, as if it were a memory, Yao's frantic face, as he shook Chief Surinder by the shoulders, and knew in his bones that the imagining was true. _We can't leave yet, not now, he won't know where to find us,_ his words garbled in desperation. _One more ten-day, please, just one more!_

* * *

 _He remembered struggling in a net—_

* * *

Katya landed neatly, unstrapped her bag, and untied and retied the neck straps of her shirt so that it didn't gape in front. Toris was waiting for her, crouched on the grassy rocks drawing patterns in the dirt, brow furrowed slightly as always and a pale blue sash, sky-color for luck, bound tightly across his chest.

"Morning," she said cheerfully. Toris straightened and brushed his hands off.

"Good morning, Miss Katya," he replied. "Nikolai is up on the ridge. He's bored out of his skull, it's _hilarious_."

"You shouldn't tease him so," she said disapprovingly.

"Not like there's much else to do." He shrugged, wings stiff and defiant, and Katya sighed a little.

"I want to see the new ones, the little ones," she said. "Will you check on Feliks and Matthew for me?"

"I don't—" He stopped himself. "Yes, of course."

As they walked toward the caves she dug in the bag for the roll of bandages, the pair of blankets, and a tiny bag with purple stains oozing out of it. Toris glanced at it sideways. She smiled at him.

"I thought they could probably use a bit of cheering up. And my sister didn't give them any time to settle in first. I didn't _raise_ her like this..."

"You've mentioned," Toris said drily, disappearing into the left-hand cave.

Absently, Katya adjusted her neckline again and ducked inside herself.

As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she saw the tiny boy curled up against his friend ( _the cursed one— no don't think like that he's just a child like any other child_ ) with his thick lashes drooping tiredly over his eyes. His face was spotted with dark bruises.

The cur— the black-winged boy glared at her in fury and pulled the fledgling closer.

"What do you want?" he spat.

Katya stopped several arm-lengths away from the pair and held out the bag.

"I brought some bandages, and extra blankets, since Nikolai never thinks about such things. Has he fed you?"

"He brought something a little earlier," the little boy murmured. "It was cold and gross but Ed said I have to eat so I did."

"Ed is right," Katya told him gently. "You need to keep your strength up so you don't get sick."

"Oh no, we don't want _that_ ," said Ed the cur— the black-winged boy sarcastically. "Don't want sickness in our blood."

Then he tensed, as if he was expecting her to hit him.

Wordlessly, she held out the roll of bandages.

"Are you Miss Katya?" asked the little one.

"Yes, I am. And what's your name?"

"Raivis. And this is Eduard." He put out a small hand, but couldn't reach without leaning forward, and winced. Eduard shifted him on his lap and took the roll instead.

"I'm going to splint your wrist, okay, Rai?" he murmured. "Hold it still."

She let him do it, flinching a little at Raivis's tiny whimpers as the bones grated back together.

"There, see?" she said, when Eduard had moved on to binding up the opposite shoulder. "Don't you feel much better?"

"I'm not a _baby_ ," Raivis complained. "And I've broken things before. Eddy, remember when I ran into the cliff-face and fell and hurt my arm and back real bad?"

"Of _course_ I remember, you scared me half to _death_!"

"And you're being very brave and grown-up right now," Katya said. Raivis perked up a little, ignoring Eduard's resumed glare. "I thought you might like something sweet after— after everything."

She produced the leaking bag.

"It'll stain your clothes," she cautioned, and tossed it to them.

Raivis caught it awkwardly in his bandaged hand and his violet-blue eyes went wide.

" _Blackberries?!_ "

"Do you not like blackberries?" she said anxiously. "My little brother used to adore them, so I thought—"

Eduard put a firm hand over the bag.

"What do you _want_?" he snapped.

She regarded him steadily. His eyes were narrowed and there was something strange about the way they were focusing.

"I want," she said, "to make you a little more comfortable while you have to be here. I want to make sure you aren't injured too badly. That you don't slip through the cracks, that you aren't forgotten. I want to make sure you have what you need and what you want, since I can't give you your freedom."

Eduard opened his mouth, flexed his clipped wings, and closed his mouth again.

"And those berries aren't poisoned or anything. I swear, they're safe to eat."

Raivis stared down at the bag longingly.

"Matt and Feliks trust you," said Eduard slowly. "That's what it sounded like."

"And?"

His jaw worked.

"I suppose," he said grudgingly, "that..." It seemed to be difficult for him to get the words out. Finally he settled on:

"I'm willing to believe them."

Raivis tipped the blackberries out onto his palm and held it out to Eduard.

"I can bring more sometime," Katya said quietly, seeing the expression on Eduard's face.

" _Take_ them, Eddy. Edd _yyyyy_."

Eduard huffed and took three.

Katya bent to pick up the bandages he'd tossed to the ground so she could put them away.

"How come they don't like Toris so much but they're okay with you?" Raivis piped up, wiping his sticky mouth carefully around the split lip. Eduard winced visibly.

"Raivissssssssss," he hissed through clenched teeth.

Katya swiftly wrapped up the bandages. "Because," she told them, "I never made the mistake of _wanting_ them to trust me. My allegiance is with Silver, with my family, and I've never tried to hide that." She smiled at Raivis and put the roll down. "I don't approve of what my little sister is doing, but she says it's necessary and Va— our chief has given his approval and so I will stand with them. I'm just doing my best to minimize the damage for everyone." She fixed them both with a soft, firm stare. "In the end, I think that's all anyone really can do. Their best."

Raivis nodded thoughtfully. Then he appeared to think of something.

"Matt said you could maybe do something for Eddy's eyes? Please?"

* * *

Toris's face was very, very carefully neutral.

"It seems like they're fine for everything, at the moment," he reported stiffly.

"And you?"

He kicked at the dirt.

"I'm alright too," he said. His tone sounded guarded.

Katya reached out tentatively and put a hand on his shoulder.

"They're confused," she told him softly. "That's all. They resent that they can't place you. You're supposed to be like them, and yet you act like one of us. You're a prisoner, but you're also sort of Silver—"

"No I'm not!" Toris burst out, and his wings flared, sunlight catching on the edges to cast red through the brown feathers.

She took a surprised step back. He met her eyes, and smiled sadly. "My mother made it very clear that I'm not Silver, Miss Katya. And to be quite honest... I don't think I _want_ to be."

She heard something unspoken hanging heavily off the last word. "But?"

"But you all seem to think," said Toris, "that your tribe is the most wonderful thing in or under this blue sky, and no one and nothing else is even worth your time. I don't want to be Silver, Miss Katya. But I _have_ to be. Until I get back to my family and the place I actually belong, I have to fit in as best I can or I'm less than a dog to all of you."

Katya shifted uncomfortably, and he blew out a breath that lifted his bangs off his face.

"I'm going back to bed; I didn't sleep well last night. Unless you need me for something else?"

"No, go ahead."

He paused at the entrance, and turned back hesitantly.

"Do you think you could get Feliks a cevnice?"

"A double flute?" she said in surprise. Toris nodded.

"He misses his. I heard them talking, before I went in."

"I'll see what I can do," Katya promised.


	6. Chapter 6

**Firebird: So, the plot thickens! My folklore obsession is getting such a workout. It makes me happy...**

 **Shadow: I had something clever to say, but it left. Well then. I'll just go look for that thought now. As usual, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Their situation was terrifying, he was not in fact the least bit heroic, and he still did not really understand why the Silverwings had done this to them, but at least Eduard seemed to be getting along better with Feliks and Matt.

Raivis liked that, because even if Eduard was still gruff and standoffish at times, he was like that most of the time anyway, even with Raivis. He wondered sometimes if Eduard would ever learn to get along with people. But then, Raivis didn't spend much more time talking to normal people than Eduard did, so maybe it was all right. And, anyway, Feliks at least was not exactly a normal person, nor was Toris, nor any of the Silverwings.

Matt was the most normal of them all, but he was also not really normal, Raivis thought, because he was kind to everyone, even Eduard.

His body was still mending from that first horrid beating, and he woke sometimes at night and lay awake, trying not to cry out for fear that he would wake Eduard, that being woken by his pain would cause Eduard to do something reckless.

But lately he had found it easier to sleep through the nights, although he still stayed inside and out of sight whenever he could. Feliks and Matt came to visit often, and they were there now.

"So _anyways_ ," Feliks was saying, "I said to myself, there's no reason I can't look nice too. So I embroidered the sleeves. Only _apparently_ I can't do that here even though it would do wonders for passing the time, because stupid-head Nikolai thinks I could commit suicide with a _needle_."

"Feliks, have you ever even asked?" Matt asked, his mouth twisting up in a half smile.

"Well…Nikolai wouldn't let me have it anyway, so there!"

"You'll never know unless you ask. Why don't you ask Miss Katya? I'm sure she'd give you a needle."

"She already gave me that cevnice," Feliks mumbled.

"I'll ask her for you, then," Matt offered. Raivis, who was still making up stories in his head - although they were darker stories now -, suddenly understood something new about Feliks.

"It's not that you don't think she'd give it to you," he piped up. "It's that you don't want to be any more in debt to them, right? Eddy's the same; he _hates_ it when Miss Katya brings blackberries, even though he loved blackberries."

Eduard, who was sitting at the cave entrance, turned to stare at him in evident annoyance.

"Rai _vis_."

"Well, it's true," he whispered, and then fell silent. Eduard had gotten quieter in the days since Raivis had been tortured, and although he no longer snapped at Feliks and Matt, Raivis was frightened that he was planning something, something violent and painful that might get all of them hurt.

He had never been sure how far he could trust neglected, cynical, half-wild Eduard, and he was even less sure after he had seen the other boy try to fight Nikolai time and time again. Eduard did not understand that there were times when fighting could not help you. Eduard had always fought, against his 'curse' and against everyone who had called him cursed, and Raivis did not think it likely that he would stop fighting. It worried him.

"Are you all right, Raivis?" Matt seemed far older than he was, like a much older brother or even like a father - or what Raivis supposed a loving father would be like.

"I'm okay," he said. "My ribs still hurt."

Feliks snorted. "None of us are okay. It's fine to tell the truth if you're hurting, and we all know you are. It's just the way it is now. We're all hurt."

"But we're alive," Matt countered. "We're being fed, treated fairly well despite the torture… It could be much worse."

"It could be better," said Feliks, and Eduard laughed bitterly from the doorway with no explanation of his laughter. Raivis did not really want to know why Eduard laughed, because when Eduard laughed at things like this, it usually meant he was thinking of something painful.

He was sick of painful things, and as that thought crossed his mind, he saw Feliks stiffen, saw Eduard rise, black wings extending, and even Matt made a quiet, nervous sound.

Nikolai stood framed in the entrance of the cave, and Eduard stood to the side, but between Nikolai and the rest of them.

"Move, cursed boy," Nikolai growled. "We've been through this, and I don't have time for your antics."

Eduard cursed at Nikolai, and for a moment, Matt gripped Raivis' hand as if steeling them both for whatever might come next. Then he rose, crossed the cave, not looking at Feliks even when the Firewing spoke.

"Matt? Matthew? What're you doing?"

Matt went to Eduard, laid a hand on the black-winged boy's shoulder, and murmured something that Raivis could not catch. Eduard cursed Matt, and the blond whispered something else, something that made Eduard glance at Raivis almost as if he were afraid.

And then, then, before Matt had quieted Eduard, before Feliks and Raivis could figure out what was happening, Nikolai grabbed Matt's arm.

"Come on, you," he said, and pulled Matt toward the entrance of the cave.

"Get your hands off him!" Eduard shouted, his wings flaring out.

"Eduard, it's fine! And Feliks, _do not move_ _I can see you back there_!"

Feliks looked as if he was about to join Eduard in his impending attempt to claw Nikolai's eyes out, but Raivis, who thought he understood that Matt's situation now was the same situation he had been in before, and that Matt did not want the others to interfere, let himself whimper loudly, as if in great pain. (It was not hard for him to sound convincing - he really was in pain and he had been trying awfully hard to hold it in.)

And Feliks paused, glancing at Matt and then back at Raivis, and Raivis whispered: "Please don't, Feliks, Eddy. He doesn't want you to."

In the silence that followed, Nikolai pulled Matt out of the cave and down the rocky path.

Feliks leapt up then, as if suddenly realizing what had happened, and joined Eduard at the cave entrance. Raivis, standing up, allowing another whimper to escape his aching body, went to join them.

"That was fast," Eduard said. "He's practically-"

"Pulling him off his feet." Feliks chewed on his bottom lip. "It's never this fast. What're they doing? Why, why do they need him so fast?"

"It'll be okay," Raivis said, his voice coming out very small and uncertain, though he tried to keep it steady. "Matt is brave and pretty strong, so he should be fine."

A shadow passed over Feliks' face, a shadow of worry and fear, but then he smiled at Raivis, and if Raivis had not known he was afraid, he would have thought the awkwardness of that smile a mere side effect of Feliks' shyness.

"Yeah. I'm sure he'll be fine. Come on, Raivis, let's, um…let's play a game. I'll teach you, teach you one of the games Firewings play. We can play outside; come on."

Feliks strode out into the sunlight, and Raivis, following, saw his eyes fall again to the path, to the now-almost invisible figure of Matt.

Eduard remained in the cave, his face shrouded in shadow.

"Eddy?" Raivis asked. "Will you…?"

"Not right now, Raivis." Eduard turned away, and as Raivis watched, he went back into the cave and sat down against the wall, blue eyes distant and sad.

He did not understand why Eduard seemed so lonely now. Eduard had always played with him before.

* * *

It was all confusion and crying and Ivan holding the fledgling down trying to get her to open her mouth, to vomit instead of swallowing, instead of choking on the thick, bloody phlegm. Katya wanted to cover her ears to drown out the mother's frantic shrieking, but that wasn't going to help, so she grabbed the woman by her shoulders and shook her, hard, and when that did nothing she slapped her across the face.

The woman took a shuddering breath and buried her face in Katya's chest.

"You're not going to lose her, love, she's going to be fine," Katya whispered, and tried to tell herself it wasn't a lie. Ivan's voice was a low murmur behind her.

"Breathe," he told the child, and they heard a pained gurgle in response, and Ivan looked up at Katya with despair in his face.

' _Where is Natalya?'_

* * *

She'd tossed the Sandwing boy against the wall as soon as Nikolai had handed him to her and laid into him with every ounce of strength in her skinny frame.

A knee to his stomach and he doubled over, gagging. _Pain makes the power stronger._ Bruises were already blooming on his cheeks. _Blood is life._ She dove for his face, raked her fingernails across his skin, came away with rusty hands, and she couldn't hear him screaming over the wailing in her head.

 _Life draining away._

The boy's forearm snapped between her hand and the cave wall. Her punches had the force of desperation in them.

She didn't bother with any sort of ceremony. Didn't bother making the cut neat. The knife slipped in her hand and blood spurted out of the jagged wound and it had to be enough by now but more couldn't hurt could it-

The crying in her brain reached a scream.

Natalya dropped her prisoner, ran for the cliff edge and dived off, letting her wings snap open, pressing the precious bowl to her chest until red circles formed clover shapes on her shirt. She scraped her knee landing on the other side of the ravine but she barely noticed it in her haste.

The crying wasn't in her head anymore.

She could find the chief's dwelling in her sleep.

"Has she thrown up yet?" she shouted at her sister, and when Katya shook her head, Natalya practically collapsed beside Ivan and plunged her hand into the bowl of blood.

Silver light filled the inside of the dwelling. ' _Pain is power. Blood is life. Force the life back inside this child- Death, you_ _ **will not**_ _take her!'_

It was the crudest spell she'd ever done; she would berate herself later for her sloppiness. But who cared about letting power leak when the fledgling had begun a hacking, rhythmic cough that grew clearer-sounding each time?

Ivan had his huge hand over the baby's mouth already, forcing the tiny jaw open, and Natalya saw him reach his fingers in and start to pull, and pull, nails pinched tight around something slick and white, and he drew out the membrane that had been killing the child and dropped it in the bowl with a flash of ashen light.

Natalya met her older brother's eyes, gave him a weak smile, and let herself pitch unconscious to the floor.


	7. Chapter 7

**Shadow's note: AAAAAH I forgot what day it was! Oh well; here is the slightly late chapter and I have not much to say so yes here it is.**

 **Firebird's note: Things are about to get _fun_...**

* * *

The look on Basch's face as he swallowed a string of curses would have been amusing if Heidi had been less worried and sad. She wanted to curse, herself, but it was probably best not to put more stress on Basch right now.

"How did they even get in?" she said instead, picking up the rabbit's fox-savaged corpse and trying in vain to brush the blood out of the soft brown fur.

Basch crouched next to her and examined the wicker hutch. "Chewed through the corner, here," he said. "Da— uh, blast it. We can't risk eating them, either. Sometimes foxes get sick and the sickness enters the rabbits' blood."

"One of Noah's does is pregnant, I think," Heidi mentioned.

"I'll talk to him later, then. But that doesn't solve the problem of tonight's dinner..." He sighed. "It's early enough I can afford to go hunting, I suppose. Might as well. Would you like to come?"

She nodded and put her hand on the sheath at her waist, where the bone hilt Basch had carved for her barely two summers ago felt cool under her fingertips.

"It'll be quicker if we both go, right? And I'm good at snares."

Her brother sighed again. "Alright. Come on."

The Cloud camp was tucked into a cliff-face overlooking a river, and days and days of trees stretched away from it. Heidi tucked her wings in as she dived toward the water and pulled up at the last second, so that her toes skimmed the white rapids.

"Heidi! Don't do that!" she heard her brother shout behind her.

She landed neatly and made a face.

"I'm not a fledgling, Basch," she muttered. His wings stirred up a faint breeze through her loose braids as his feet touched earth, and he poked her lightly.

"Just because you're eighteen, I can't worry about you? It's a hard habit to break." He handed over a loop of twine. "I'll head east. Meet me back here before noon or I'll come looking for you."

She almost made it.

She was rounding her snares again when she heard wings beating in the sky above her and, frowning in confusion and curiosity, darted out of the tree cover to see.

"Silver?" she said quietly, seeing the morning sunlight shine on variegated grey wings. "What are they doing so far out he—"

Someone grabbed her arms from behind.

Heidi reacted on instinct and whipped her head back, felt her captor's nose crunch and buckle from the impact, and threw all her weight forward. Her arm twinged as it jerked out of the person's grasp.

She went for her knife, and flew toward the face of the man who was trying to grab her from the front.

She wasn't exactly sure what happened after that, but it ended with a searing pain in her scalp, her braids wrapped around the man's hands, and her knife a wingspan away from her on the ground. She pulled forward again and yelped when he tightened his grip on her hair.

The other Silverwing, a woman, was holding her nose and glaring at Heidi.

"Liddwe bit," she hissed. Heidi shifted in the man's grip. Her head hurt, her wings hurt from being twisted and crumpled behind her, and there was a long slice down her palm from when her knife had been twisted away.

"She's not gonna come quietly," said the man, "we'd better tie her up and use the sling—"

"BASCH!" Heidi screamed.

The woman lunged forward and punched her in the stomach, cutting off the scream with a choking gasp.

"Keep her quiet!" she said urgently. "I've got the rope, here—"

The man put his hand over Heidi's mouth. She bit it.

"Stop it!" he yelled, and as she scrambled forward and drew in a breath to scream again, he brought the hilt of his knife down on the back of her head.

* * *

When Heidi woke up, there was a blanket covering her back, a wall pressing against her side, and cold stone against her cheek. She pushed herself up and moaned; everything hurt. Her hand was throbbing, but—

She glanced down. ' _Who bandaged this?'_

"H-hello?" she called softly, maneuvering into a kneeling position.

A squeak of surprise came from behind her.

"Ah! You're awake!"

She turned and saw a boy jump up from his seat against the opposite wall of the cave she was in.

"I thought you'd be out for a lot longer, how are you feeling, um, that's a silly question I bet you feel awful," he gabbled, hurrying forward and picking up the blanket. He moved as if to throw it back over her, hesitated, and instead started twisting it awkwardly around his hands.

He looked about her age, with brown hair and wings and a thin, anxious face. She glared at him suspiciously.

"The ones who took me were Silver," she said. "Where— where am I? Where is this?"

"Silver's camp," he said, scuffing his foot against the floor. "Um— while you were unconscious they clipped your wings. But they didn't do anything else, I promise."

"They _what_?" she shrieked. Her hands flew to her sash and she felt an empty sheath.

' _Oh... I remember. I dropped it in the forest. Maybe Basch will find it...'_

"What am I," she said. " A prisoner?"

"Yes," said the boy. "They keep saying they'll let us go eventually..."

' _I doubt that.'_

"My brother will come find me," she said, trying to sound confident. The boy sighed.

"He won't know where to look for you," he told her, sounding a little tired. He let the blanket fall to the floor and held out a hand to her, offering to help her stand. She ignored it and pushed against the wall with shaky legs.

"That won't stop him."

The boy laughed hollowly

"Believe me, I've spent long enough waiting for my family. He's not coming, okay?"

She frowned and finally managed to balance upright. Her wings felt wrong.

"How long?" she asked.

He glanced outside, as if looking at the sun while he counted. "Four— maybe five months," he said. "They took me just before migration."

Heidi felt dizzy.

"You probably have a concussion," said the boy, turning back to her and slipping an arm around her shoulders. "Be careful. I'm Toris, by the way."

"Heidi." She leaned against him a little, watching her braids swing in front of her.

"Would you like to come meet the others?" Toris asked, and she nodded, but she wasn't really paying attention.

' _One of my ribbons is gone— the one Basch helped me embroider.'_

She felt an overwhelming desire to cry.

* * *

Matt thought Nikolai had probably taken him back to the wrong cave, not by any kind of careless mistake, but because he wanted to make Feliks _and_ Eduard angry, and they were both in Eduard and Raivis' cave.

He tried to brace himself as Nikolai tossed him on the floor, but he still could not keep himself from crying out as his injured arm made contact with the ground.

"What did you do to him?" Feliks, he had to make sure Feliks wouldn't attack Nikolai. He thought, after past torture, that the Firewing boy would know better than to fight Nikolai, but he could not be sure.

"Are you okay?" That was Raivis, who sounded closer than Feliks, and Matt forced himself to nod and tried to sit up, just in time to see Feliks striding forward, fiery wings extended.

"Feliks…" he said warningly, and behind him he heard footsteps as Nikolai retreated from the cave. He couldn't possibly be afraid of any of the prisoners. There must be some other reason, but Matt couldn't begin to guess what that reason was.

He could not guess the reason for _any_ of this.

"I'm all right, Raivis," he finally remembered to say, and he tried to smile at the fledgling, who was watching him closely, a concerned look on his face.

Eduard was sitting at the back of the cave, watching Matt with cold, uncaring eyes. Or maybe that was just the squint. The boy had refused to wear the glasses Katya had given him.

"You don't really look okay," Raivis said. "You're all bloody, and I think your arm is broken."

"It is," he said. "Feliks, you'll have to—"

"Not now, Matt." Feliks' voice was abnormally soft and gentle. "Stay still, okay? You're still bleeding."

"I'll be all right," he whispered, but he really didn't feel all right - he felt dizzy, lightheaded, as if he might be about to pass out.

"Why don't you lie down?" Feliks demanded. "Do you want to die of blood loss or something?"

He practically pushed Matt flat on the floor of the cave, and Matt was so preoccupied, trying to explain that dying of blood loss didn't quite work like that, that he managed to stop himself from crying out this time. Raivis, just behind him, was far more gentle, maneuvering his own small body so that Matt's head was resting on his knees.

"I should've thought of that," Feliks muttered.

"Ssh," Raivis said. "His head probably hurts a whole lot, so we shouldn't be too loud. My head hurt really badly after…after Miss Natalya hurt me."

Feliks had cold hands, and they felt very nice on his head, so Matt didn't mention it, although he thought that it was strange since not only Feliks' wings but his wild nature spoke of flames, and then he realized _that_ was a strange thought and maybe he should stop thinking for a bit.

"You're really warm," Feliks noted, only to be immediately shushed by Raivis.

"Matt is _resting_ , Polskidoodle! Sssssshhhhh!"

"How come I don't get a nickname?" Matt asked, blinking up at Raivis. The small boy wrinkled his nose.

"I couldn't think of one. And you're supposed to be resting. Ssssssssshhhhhhhhh!"

"Katya'll probably show up sometime," Feliks whispered. "Then we can fix your arm and stuff. But you've gotta rest first, okay?"

Matt nodded, and then, because Raivis looked as if he was about to shout for them to be quiet again, he tried to lie very still and look as if he were resting. Feliks hovered about, rather like a worried mother, and Matt had to wonder exactly how injured he looked.

Then Feliks stiffened, and little Raivis began to shake ever so slightly. Matt raised his head to look toward the door of the cave, and saw two figures standing there. One was obviously Toris, but the other, whose wings were tucked tightly in toward her body, was a strange girl, and she had white wings.

"E-everyone," said Toris, his voice quiet and uncertain, "if it's not too much trouble, I'd like you all to meet Heidi."

"Cloudwing," Feliks observed. "Now all we're missing is a Nightwing and we'll have the whole set—plus Eduard."

Matt, trying not to put weight on his broken arm, managed to pull himself into a sitting position, adjusting his glasses and trying through the fuzziness in his head to think of a rational reason for the appearance of this Cloudwing girl.

' _It's starting to seem like they're collecting one person from each tribe. But why?'_


	8. Chapter 8

**Shadow's note: Waaaaah Matt stop being delirious. Also Eduard, PLEASE BE FRIENDLY.**

 **Firebird's note: we ended up splitting this chapter because I procrastinated too long, panicked, and wrote like, 11 pages in a few hours and the chapter ended up being way too long ... so this is just the bit Shadow wrote (on time). orz**

 **Please enjoy these poor babies Not Even Trying To Get Along. ^^**

* * *

There was a very long silence after Toris introduced them to the Cloudwing girl, and Raivis finally decided that if no one else was going to say anything, he might as well say hello to the girl. She looked like she might be about his age, but then, she might have been older, too. He didn't have much experience with girls in general, let alone figuring out how old they were.

"Hi, Heidi," he said. "I'm Raivis. It's nice to meet you, well, I mean, it would be nicer if I wasn't meeting you _here,_ since this place isn't very nice, but I'm still glad to meet you. And this is Feliks and Matt and Eddy, but Feliks is shy and Matt's sort of hurt and Eddy's just being grumpy for some reason, so that's probably why they're not saying hi."

He realized he was rambling and fell silent, smiling sheepishly at Heidi. The girl hesitated, and then smiled back, and although her smile was tense and uncertain, Raivis felt comforted by the fact that she _could_ smile. Sometimes he forgot what smiling was like.

"Hello, Raivis. It's nice to meet you. Your friends, as well."

Eduard made an irritated noise, and Raivis turned to him, sighing.

"Eddy, she hasn't even said anything about your wings yet and you're already mad at her?"

"I'm not mad," said Eduard, but Raivis thought that he looked awfully annoyed for someone who 'wasn't mad'.

"Well, um," Toris shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other, and Raivis wondered suddenly if Feliks' silence was because Toris was there, and not because of Heidi. He knew Feliks didn't trust Toris, and Eduard didn't trust _anyone_ , but they didn't have to be _rude_.

"I'm going to, to go now," said Toris, "so if you can help Heidi settle in, that would be, that would be good, I think."

He turned away and nearly bolted from the cave, leaving the other prisoners alone with Heidi.

"I'm sure I can settle in myself," the girl said. "There's no need for any of you to be inconvenienced."

"No, hang on," Feliks interjected. "He's right, I guess; there are things you need to know, but to be honest, it's been a long day and I think we're all a little out of it."

"I'm really out of it, apparently," Matt said. "But I feel fine, I promise. Sorry for ignoring you. Feliks is right; it's been a long day."

Heidi eyed Matt with no small degree of concern. "You're bleeding."

He winced. "I noticed that. It's nothing, really… Well, actually…"

"Hang on a minute." Feliks took charge, effectively shutting Matt up. " _You_ , Matthew, had better rest right now, or you're gonna end up comatose or something. I'll go help Heidi 'settle in' or whatever, and I'm okay with Eduard or Raivis coming too, but someone needs to stay with Matt."

"I'll stay," said Eduard, and it was obvious Feliks hadn't expected any help from him, because his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Okay then. So, Raivis, you want to come? It would probably be less awkward if you came."

Raivis guessed that Feliks was asking for someone to come along and keep the conversation going until he got more comfortable with Heidi, and he wanted to explain how he really never talked to girls and didn't know what to do with this one, but he also didn't really want to stay with the questionably delirious Matt and a very annoyed Eduard, so he opted for the lesser discomfort of going with Feliks and Heidi.

"Okay, let's go. See you later, Eddy, Matt!"

"My cave is two down from this one," Heidi said to Eduard. "If you need help, that's where we'll be."

Eduard nodded, and Raivis followed Feliks and Heidi as they led the way down the path to her cave, which was on the far side of Matt and Feliks'.

"So," Heidi said, once they were all seated in her cave. "Would anyone like to tell me why I've been kidnapped by Silverwings?"

"That's what we'd like to know," Feliks said. "We're all in the same boat, except maybe Toris; I don't know what's with him. Nobody does, or if the Silvers do, they're not telling."

"We don't know why we've been kidnapped, we just know what they're doing to us," Raivis said. "A-and we should probably tell you about it, only it's a little scary, and…"

' _And you seem like a really nice girl and I don't want you to get hurt because I haven't met very many nice girls, and also I don't like it when people get hurt.'_

Heidi frowned. "If you're afraid I'm going to get scared and start crying, don't worry. I'm tougher than I look."

"Tough enough to deal with getting tortured for no apparent reason?" Feliks asked. "Because that's exactly they'll do to you."

Feliks' bluntness really wasn't helpful in this situation, Raivis decided, and he hastened to try and reassure Heidi, who _did_ look ever so slightly rattled by the thought of getting tortured.

"It's not…well, it _is_ pretty bad but it doesn't happen too often, and the more of us there are the less they'll hurt each of us, I think, so it'll probably be all right for you most of the time."

Understanding flashed across Heidi's face. "That's what happened to that boy - Matt, wasn't it? He was tortured?"

Feliks nodded. "Yeah. That happened this morning; they just brought him back a little while before you showed up. It was worse today for him than it has been, so… I dunno."

"Toris said he'd been here for four months," Heidi said. "He said no one had come to rescue him or anyone else; is that true?"

"Nobody would look here," Raivis said. "Nobody would even think about it. There's not supposed to be any kind of fighting among the tribes; that just doesn't happen, right?"

"There've been quarrels, sure," said Feliks, "but I never heard of anything like this. Kidnapping and torturing people, it's just not…"

"It's not the kind of thing that happens in real life," said Raivis. "Just in stories."

"Well, it's happening _now_ ," Heidi said. "So we should do something about it. Couldn't we, I don't know, try to escape?"

"They'd find us before we could get out of their territory," Feliks snapped. "Matt and I already thought of that; the whole reason they clipped our wings was to ensure we couldn't get away. Don't be dumb. If we could escape, I would've already found a way."

Heidi, apparently, couldn't come up with an argument for that. She sat quietly for a while, deep in thought. Raivis watched her, not knowing what to say, trying to think of how she would be described in a story. She seemed delicate, he decided, but there was also a strength about her that defied her small for. He wished he was strong, or, at least, was something more than just a weak child.

"Where did the black-winged boy come from?" Heidi said at last. "Basch—my brother—warned me to stay away from people like that."

"They're supposed to be cursed," Feliks agreed, with a cautious glance at Raivis. "But so far, Eduard just seems emotionally unstable."

"That's not his fault!" Raivis blurted. "You'd be pretty unstable too if nobody had ever loved you!"

Feliks frowned. "I didn't mean it like that," he said at last. "Sorry, Raivis."

Again, Heidi managed to connect the pieces despite how badly they were explaining everything. "The cu—Eduard is from Gold?"

Raivis nodded. There was really nothing to say.

"And you're sure he's safe?" Heidi asked, cautiously.

"I'm positive. Eddy would never hurt _anybody_ , not even by accident. He's not that kind of person. He's really nice, he just has trouble getting used to people. You'll see, all of you; Eddy's a really nice person."

' _He's my best friend. Why don't you all trust me when I say he would never, ever hurt anyone? Why does everybody think that his wings make him a bad person? He can't help having black wings anymore than I can help being small. Why are those things treated so differently, even here? There's no difference at all.'_

* * *

Eduard watched Matt through half-closed eyes, prepared to take action only if it looked like his life might be in danger. He was fairly certain Matt would be fine, but he would still much rather stay with the dozing Sandwing than have to make small talk with Feliks, Raivis, and Heidi, whom he was sure mistrusted him for his wings. _Of course_ she mistrusted him; Matt was the first person beside Raivis who hadn't, and he doubted he would ever find another person who felt that way about him. There was too much distrust of strange things among the tribes for people to accept him.

"Eduard?" Matt sounded tired, but less confused now.

"What?"

"Could…could I…?" Matt broke off, shaking his head. "No, never mind, that's stupid."

"What's the matter?" Eduard sighed. "I'm supposed to take care of you, so tell me what's wrong."

"I'm cold," Matt said. "Extremely cold. Which is really odd, because I was warm earlier…"

"You're feverish, obviously," Eduard informed him. "You'll survive."

 _It was the middle of winter and he was didn't know how to make a fire, and no one would talk to him long enough to show him how, and he was so_ cold…

He sighed again, more heavily this time.

"Well, they probably won't let us make a fire, especially not in the middle of summer, so I'm not sure what to do…"

 _Something small and warm pressed against him, delicate, golden wings fluttering in the cold._

" _I don't know how to make fire either, Eddy, so we'll have to keep each other warm, I guess."_

As Matt had said— if that was even what Matt had been trying to say in the first place—it was a stupid idea. And also a surprisingly sensible one, all things considered.

"If you make me sick, I'll tell that sorceress to kill you," he growled, going over to Matt, helping him into a sitting position and sitting down next to him, unfurling his wings and wrapping one around Matt, who frowned in confusion.

"What are we doing?"

"You're going to take a nap," Eduard said. "Get rid of that fever before Feliks comes back and I have to deal with his idiotic commentary again. I can't deal with too much frustration at once."

Matt really was exhausted, Eduard realized; he didn't protest at all, merely leaned his head against Eduard's shoulder and closed his eyes. Apparently, however, he was not quite ready to rest yet.

"Eduard? Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, as long as you go to sleep when you're done."

"Are you scared that Feliks and I are going to take Raivis away from you?"

Eduard froze.

' _How does he know? How did he figure it out? What_ is _he that he always knows what I'm thinking?'_

"You know, before I came here, I didn't have many friends of my own either," Matt murmured. "I told you I had a brother, didn't I? Well, Al is a little…a little more social than I am. So if I wanted to be with people, I could go with him and his friends. It's not like I was neglected, certainly not, not the way you and Raivis seem to have been, but I was lonely. It's not as bad for me, but I know the feeling. I'm not going to take your best friend away, and Feliks won't either. Raivis obviously cares a lot about you, and neither of us want to get in the way of your friendship with him. You don't have to be scared."

"You're imagining things," Eduard growled. "Get some rest and stop this delirious rambling."

Matt seemed to think this over for a moment before answering.

"Maybe I _am_ imagining things. But I just wanted to make sure. I didn't want you to be afraid. Being afraid of being alone—or of no one needing you— that's the worst, isn't it?"

Eduard didn't know how to reply to that, and Matt made no attempt to continue. Eduard waited until Matt's breathing slowed, and then unfurled his wing a little and resumed watching Matt, who did not stir again for a long time.

' _I don't care what he promises; people have made promises to me before, and Raivis was the only one who kept his promises. No matter what Matt says, no matter what any of them say, I can't trust it. If I do, I'll just be setting myself up to be hurt. And I refuse to let them hurt me.'_


	9. Chapter 9

**Firebird's note: this is so long why is this so long sob**

 **Sand is kind of weird- they live by the ocean, and don't need to migrate, so they feel less of a need to make stuff portable and have a love of huge and over-complicated machinery. They're basically an entire tribe of mad scientists. It's great.**

 **"Hours" are a bit longer than our hours because they're based on an easily measurable movement of the sun.**

 **Shadow's note: So the reason this is later is because I was out of town last Monday and forgot that I was supposed to post when I got home. So as usual, I am to blame. Also Firebird did all the work on this brilliant wonderful chapter (as usual).**

* * *

Yao was pretty certain he was one of the most stupid people in all seven tribes.

The part of him that was absolutely frantic about whether his siblings might get sick or injured when he wasn't there to take care of them was currently carefully buried under the much-easier-to-manage worry about what Xiao and the twins might be getting up to when he wasn't there to reign them in. Kiku and Lien, nominally in charge, were responsible, and Mei, at least, would be well-behaved for her sister, but Yong Soo and Young Sil simply could not be trusted with their own safety, Xiao had an unfortunate fascination with fire, and Li never did anything he didn't want to do. Yao was _stupid_ for leaving them all to fend for themselves for almost four months now, even if Surinder had promised to keep an eye on them; and below _that_ was guilt. He'd promised he'd always take care of them, hadn't he?

' _But I promised Toris that too. And Toris is the one who's missing.'_

Yao sighed and put a hand out, a little hopelessly, pulling his wings tighter against his back when he felt the raindrops that the tree was supposed to be shielding him from.

It was quiet, except for the rain, and Yao's own occasional sneezes.

' _Toris likes the quiet,'_ he thought, and exhaustedly buried his face in his knees.

* * *

Craft fairs were always loud, and dusty with landings and takeoffs from every which way. That one had been particularly loud because in addition to Earth, Sand, and Cloud—the usual participants for this area—there was a group of Silvers too, come to see some of the new Sand-made clockwork machines, and everyone was talking about them. Silver was always rather secretive, and they rarely ventured south even for trading. Yao got the feeling they vaguely disapproved of anyone who wasn't them.

He kept half an eye on a knot of Silverwings in the corner while he pored over some of the more frivolous of the machines. One of them was made of metal with slots in it, and some springs wound tightly at the bottom; it was supposed to be for bread, but Yao thought a toasting fork worked just as well, and was a good deal more portable. Although Kiku, he thought, might like to take the thing apart. That boy ought to have been born into Sand; he loved things like this.

"Oof! S-sorry!"

He looked down as he felt something bounce off his leg, and saw a tiny boy backing away, his brown wings fluttering stiff and anxious.

"It's fine," he said absently. "Hm, I haven't seen you before—who are your parents?"

The boy's face drained of color.

"M-mom's over there—" he waved vaguely—"I'll go now, I'm awf'ly sorry to bother you—"

He tried to bolt, but Yao caught his small hand and pulled him back.

"I didn't ask _where_ your parents were," he scolded mildly. "I asked _who_ they were. I've never seen you around the Earth camp in my life and I thought I knew all the children." He ought to; he'd taken in half of them, orphaned after the sickness three summers ago that had taken so many—far too many—of the tribe.

The boy was practically vibrating, he was shaking so hard.

"I—I'm Silver, p-please let g-go," he whimpered. Yao felt his own face twist into a frown. Half-bloods weren't common, but they happened, and this boy looked Earth enough with his hazel eyes and dark hair.

He _also_ looked terribly thin.

(Yao knew children; this boy should be round and soft, the bones of his cheeks and wrists invisible.)

"Where did you say your mother was?" he asked. "I'll walk with you, so you don't get lost again."

"Y-you really don't n-need to do that, s-sir," said the boy. "I'll b-be fine."

"I insist. It's no trouble." The boy was edging around him, trying to get away while still facing Yao's knees. "Really. I'm happy to help you out."

The boy blinked in surprise, and with a tiny, resigned sigh, he pointed.

"Mom was over there last I saw," he said miserably.

"Alright, let's go th—"

Yao put his hand down on the boy's back, between his wings, intending to guide him, and jerked back when the boy winced. He raised his hand to his face and stared at the wet red smear on his finger.

Then he grabbed the little boy's shoulders and spun him around, ignoring the stumble and the whimper of protest. Hot rage rose in his throat.

The shirts that almost everyone wore were deliberately cut with low backs, dipping down almost to the sash so that your wings were free to move. That meant Yao could see clearly, across the boy's uncovered skin, every oozing sore and every white, old scar.

His back was _covered_ with them.

Yao turned the boy back around, gentler this time, and knelt in front of him.

"What's your name?" he said quietly.

"Toris," the boy whispered. "I'm sorry..."

"Why are you sorry?"

"I—you're angry." Toris said timidly. His wings were pulled tight against his lacerated back now, tucked into the hollow between his shoulderblades, the way even babies knew to do to protect the hollow, delicate bones that were so difficult to fix once broken. "I—I didn't m-mean to m-make you angry!"

"I'm not angry at you," Yao promised in the kindest, most reassuring voice he could muster. "Toris, who hurt you?"

Shaking, the boy opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"Was it your parents?" Yao prompted.

Toris flinched involuntarily and squeezed his eyes shut. Yao straightened, curling his lip in disgust.

"We're going to go find your mother, Toris. And I am going to have _words_ with her."

Toris yanked his hand out of Yao's loosened grasp.

" _Please_ don't! You'll just make her mad!"

"If I have my way," Yao told him grimly, "you won't be around for her to be mad at." He took Toris's hand again and pulled him firmly down the thoroughfare, stopping for a moment near a wide clearing.

"Chun-Yan!" he hissed at a brown-winged woman who was fastening her chest-bag in preparation for takeoff. When she glanced up, he nodded toward Toris and said, "I have to deal with something. Will you do me a favor and make sure all of the kids get back in time for dinner? Preferably in no more than two pieces?"

"Of course," said Chun-Yan. She peered curiously at Toris. "Who's this?"

"I'm making sure he finds his family," Yao said, a little evasively. "Thanks, Chun-Yan, you're wonderful—"

He hurried off. Toris pulled his wings in even tighter, apparently conscious of Chun-Yan's gaze following them.

"That's my mom," he whispered. Yao saw a woman ahead—she looked very young, maybe even younger than Yao—with soft, shimmering grey wings and her long blonde braid tossed carelessly over one shoulder.

"Excuse me, ma'am," he said loudly. "I think I found your son, wandering the vendors' booths."

She turned, saw Toris, and her face grew stony.

"This man has far better things to do with his time than escort you around, Toris," she snapped. "When we get home—"

Toris cringed.

"I was happy to help Toris," Yao interrupted. "I find him excellent company. It appears, however, that _you do not_."

He saw her eyes widen with realization.

"Toris..." she growled.

"He didn't tell me anything I couldn't figure out for myself," Yao said coldly. "I think I'll speak to your chief."

Toris flinched again and almost burrowed into Yao's side. Yao frowned and looked down at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Winter won't do anything," said Toris's mother for him in a scornful tone. "He doesn't care. As long as I keep this brat out of trouble." She glanced at Toris, voice going distant. "Toris knows to be good now. That way no one _else_ has a reason to hurt him. _Isn't that right, Toris_?"

' _I think I'm going to throw up,'_ thought Yao violently, and spat, "Are you saying no one else in all of Silver is fit to take care of this child, then? Fine. _I'll take him._ " Beside him, he felt Toris go stiff. Belatedly, he realized he should probably give said child a say in all of this. "Toris, would you rather stay with your mother?"

"I..."

"Take him," Toris's mother said coldly. "You Earthwings don't care about sullied bloodlines, he'll fit right in with the rest of you mongrels."

Yao's parents had taught him never to hit a lady.

He was _not_ going to hit her. He _wasn't_.

Toris's face was pale and he looked on the brink of tears.

"Well?" said his mother. "Go on."

"Toris," Yao said lowly, "you heard her. Let's—let's go home, okay?"

Toris fluttered his wings nervously, and gave a timid, watery half-smile.

"Bye, Mom," he said.

She said nothing.

"M-mom?" he tried again.

The woman turned away and started walking.

Toris crumpled.

Yao felt a horrible twinge in his heart.

"Sir?" Toris whispered in a choked voice.

"My name is Yao." He bent and gathered Toris into his arms. (He barely weighed anything.) "I'm sorry."

Toris buried his face in Yao's shoulder and clung to his neck as Yao took off from where he stood. He could feel hot droplets soaking through his shirt, but by the time they reached the Earth camp, almost an hour's flight from the fairground, the boy had stopped crying and was instead peeking over Yao's shoulder, trying to get a glimpse of the ground below.

"Have you never flown long distances before?" Yao asked as he touched down.

"Just during migration," Toris said. "It's different then. I'm always tired, and my wings hurt, and I can't keep up sometimes. But everyone gets mad if I hold them up..."

Yao set him carefully on the ledge outside the cave. "Listen to me, Toris. I promise I'll never be angry at you for something you can't help. Okay?"

Toris nodded.

"And I'm never going to hit you, either. I'm always going to be here to take care of you, Toris. You're safe here. That's a promise."

* * *

When the kids came tumbling into the cave around sunset, shouting unintelligibly, Toris went ramrod-straight and his wings started vibrating so hard one of the blankets on the floor lifted up slightly in the draft.

No one even noticed him.

"YAOYAOYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" howled Xiao, brandishing a wooden contraption in the air. "Chun-Yan buyed dis for me!"

"That's _Miss_ Chun-Yan to you, oh stars help us what _is_ that thing _no don't show me inside—_!"

"Yao, Mei hit me!"

"Mei, don't hit people—"

"Yao, I'm hungry!"

"Dinner's long past ready just hang on a lit—"

"Yao, why'd you leave early you _promised_ you were gonna show me the seashell thing!"

"QUIET!" Yao bellowed. The noise subsided marginally, and seven sets of curious eyes finally turned their full force on Toris.

"Ooooooh!" squealed the taller girl. "Do we have a new brother, Yao?"

The two boys who looked almost exactly alike, right down to the curly cowlicks sticking straight out of the fronts of their hair, detached themselves from the crowd of children and started running in circles around him; Toris followed them with his head until he felt dizzy.

"Er—" he said timidly.

"I'm bored. What's for dinner?" one of the twins announced, and they both trooped back to the mass of children.

"Toris," said Yao with a long-suffering air, "these are my siblings. Lien, Kiku, Li, Mei, Yong Soo, Young Sil, Xiao. Is that everyone? I'm pretty sure that's everyone."

"Toris is a pretty name!" said Mei, the younger girl.

"How old are you, Toris?" said Li, who wore spectacles.

"Ei-eight," Toris whispered. Why were they all _staring_ at him? His stomach roiled.

"That's the same age as Kiku!" said Lien, with the short black ponytail.

"Does that mean you and Kiku are twins now?" said Yong Soo, or maybe Young Sil, one of the two identical boys. The other one whapped him on the head.

"Don't be _stupid_ ," he said.

"'M not!" whined probably-Yong-Soo.

"You gotta be _born_ twins, like us," said Young Sil, or possibly Yong Soo. "Mei and Li are the same age and _they_ aren't twins."

Toris covered his eyes and cowered when the first punch was thrown. Yao had told him he'd be safe here but it was so loud too loud too much noise they were fighting one of them was crying and _he was crying and another careless kick to his ribs made him sob for breath_

"You're scaring him, you _idiots_!" came Mei's furious voice on the edge of his consciousness, and then there were soft hands on Toris's arms. He gasped for air and stared into calm, concerned brown eyes.

"Are you alright?" asked Kiku, the one who had stood quietly the entire time. "I'm sorry we've made you uncomfortable. We're just excited to have you here."

"I'm—I'm fine," Toris managed.

"Hey, how come he gots ban'ges all over his back?" came Xiao-the-youngest's shrill voice.

Toris went rigid _again_ , but Yao's firm voice cut in.

"For the same reason _you_ wear bandages sometimes. Now go get washed up for dinner. You can talk to Toris more later, once we've all eaten."

They all trooped off., although Kiku took a moment to squeeze Toris's hands and whisper, "I'm glad you're here," before leaving. Yao shook his head and knelt next to Toris.

"I'm sorry. I'm too used to the noise, I didn't think about how it would affect you."

"I'm fine," Toris repeated. "I'll get used to it..."

"I'll tell them to tone it down for a few weeks," Yao said decisively. "On that note: what do you want to do now? Since I got you some food earlier—are you still hungry?"

 _Some food_ to Yao had apparently meant _stuff Toris to almost bursting while clucking his tongue over how thin he is_.

"I'd... like to go to bed, please," said Toris, and watched as Yao completely failed to get in the least upset.

"Alright then. Over here."

"Um. Mr Yao?"

"Just Yao, Toris."

"Yao. Um, can you...?" Toris sucked in a breath and finished miserably, "Nevermind."

Then Yao's fingers were on his chin lifting his face upward. "What do you want, Toris?" he said gently.

"Tashenka said her mom used to sing to her at night," Toris whispered. "That's—that's all. I just—thought of that."

Yao smoothed the blanket.

"Tashenka?"

"One of the little girls back in Silver," Toris explained, sliding into the bed and fluffing his wings out. "She wasn't supposed to play with me, but sometimes she did anyway. Only I got in trouble for it, so I told her I didn't want to play with her anymore." He looked sad.

Carefully, Yao pulled the blanket up to Toris's chin.

"It's alright now, Toris," he murmured. "Go to sleep. I'll keep you safe, okay?" And then, "Hao yi duo mei li de mo li hua..."

Toris's eyes snapped wide.

"I didn't mean—" he whispered.

Yao smiled and ran his hand across Toris's eyelids, forcing them closed again.

"Fen fang mei li man zhi ya..."

When the other children came inside—rather more quietly this time—Toris was curled on his stomach with a peaceful smile on his sleeping face.

* * *

Yao pulled himself upright and tested the air again. The rain had slowed to a drizzle that shouldn't waterlog his wings too badly.

He stepped out of the trees and started walking forward.

The forest went on for as far as he could see. (' _Oh, stars, what if Toris is inside it, it could take months to search just that—well, I'll just have to spend the months, I suppose.'_ )

Yao sighed and scanned the treeline hopelessly. A bright-colored something caught his eye—he leaned closer and saw a rope stretching between two trees, a brilliant red-and-navy cloth tied to it. He squinted ahead and saw more, outlining the edge of the trees.

This was the mark of a tribe boundary.

Yao ducked under the rope and walked a little way into the trees, then stopped and held his hands out in front of him, palms open and empty.

"Are there guards here?" he called. "I want to talk to your chief."

A rustle. A young woman dropped from a branch, dark blue wings flexing where they were pulled up against her shoulders.

"Give me your knife," she said tensely. Yao handed it over, slowly and wordlessly. She was holding a spear and looked twitchy enough to stab him if he moved too quickly, and that would definitely hamper his search.

"Fine. Come on." The guard gestured with the butt of her spear.

They walked for what felt like ages; the sun had long since passed from behind the clouds, shone for a while at its apex, and retreated back into the grey. Finally they reached a massive clearing, where what looked like most of the Nightwing tribe was gathered.

"Who's this?" said the woman whose long hair was half-pulled back into a chief's distinctive hairstyle and fastened with a delicate cross-shaped ornament. "What do you want here, Earthwing?"

"I'm looking for my brother," said Yao calmly. "He went missing five months ago, and we haven't found his body yet. I'm hoping he's still alive somewhere—or at least, that I can give him a proper pyre. I came to ask—"

"Other tribes are missing children too?" said the chief, with a sickeningly hopeful expression.

"'Too?'" Yao whispered.

"Tiril," said a man desperately. He was short and stout, a psaltery slung over his shoulder. "Tiril _you have to ask him about Sigi—_ "

Chief Tiril looked back at Yao.

"Our sorcerer's son is missing too," she said.


End file.
